Head beating itself against the desk.
The words fail to make the leap from fingers to screen.
Blank screen mocks you with it’s flashing cursor.
Still, there is nothing, absolutely nothing to be done about it.
Another glance at the clock shows me only that time continues to tick by, faster and slower at the same time.
I’m tired.
I don’t want to do this tonight.
Why didn’t I start earlier?
I have to go to work tomorrow.
Gotta get something done.
Just need one idea…
Something…
Anything…
Damnit!
Opens one of the notebooks filled with various bits and pieces of ideas or characters or settings or…
None of those will work.
I’m wasting all this time.
Maybe try reading what I’ve already written?
Why is this so hard?
Other people make this look so easy. Ideas flow out and magically appear. None of them have this problem.
So why do I have the problem?
You’ve been here before and managed to find a way around the problem.
Work the problem.
Is it a character issue?
A subject issue.
Ok. So what needs to happen before the words start working for me instead of against me?
Don’t touch that mouse!
No reason to even bother clicking away.
Another ten minutes destroyed by inaction.
***
This is my brain on writer’s block. I know some people will tell you it doesn’t exist. I’ve heard people talk about it like it is a completely foreign concept to them. There are those who really think they’ve got the whole thing figured out.
I don’t buy it. Not one bit.
There have to be those times when other people, other writers just don’t know what it is they are going to write. And not in the good way, where you are on a journey of discovery within your work. No, I’m talking about that blank page, when it locks onto your soul letting you know that you have nothing else you could possibly bring to the table. That if you’re tired, then just do it tomorrow. No one needs to know that you’re having issues. No one needs to know that the words won’t come.
I mean it’s not like you forget how to write, but there has to be something which could streamline the process a little bit. Some magically easy button I can push to just get the initial push.
Something to help me remember how to do it.
***
Another ten minutes lost.
Bedtime was an hour ago.
And still, this stupid monitor glows with a white smile.
Just have to write something, no matter how small. No matter if there are tons of actual good ideas. Something needs to appear on paper.
No more excuses.
Push through the noise.
***
John McGuire is the writer of the sci-fi novel: The Echo Effect.
He is also the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!
Click here to join John’s mailing list and receive preview chapters of upcoming novels, behind the scenes looks at new comics, and free short stories.
His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow Empire, Tales from Vigilante City, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com
