How to relate this to living in limbo? Well, writer's block is something like limbo and limbo feels a bit like a prolonged case of writer's block, so there you go! Pretty thin, I know, but also truth :)
So, I was reading this article recently on io9.com about writer's block and how to solve it, and I was thinking about the file of story ideas I keep on my computer. Basically I come up with these story ideas that capture my attention and keep me up at night, and for a few days I write like a woman possessed. Then one morning I wake up and read what I wrote and think to myself "what is this garbage?!" and abandon it forever. Now, instead, I save it on this file in case I ever want to come back to it. Sometimes I don't and sometimes I do, and sometimes I take one of the little orphaned stories I've saved and rewrite it or change the name of a character or add little notes to myself. I was thinking about that when the article suggest the exact same solution to the writer's block problem:
Save them in a file, come back to them a year or ten later, and maybe you'll suddenly know how to tackle them. You'll have more experience and a different mindset then. It's possible someone with more stubbornness could make one of those ideas work right away, but probably not - the reason you can't get anywhere with any of them is because they're just not letting you tell the story you really want to tell, down in the murky subconscious.
Interesting thought. Of course, there's another school of thought which would probably advise me to delete that file of short stories and start fresh with a clean slate, mentally and physically. I have trouble letting those ideas go, though. They may be silly and trite, but when I read them I can recall where I was and what I was thinking (or watching or listening to) when I wrote them, and in some of them I can even recapture a whiff of the original moment of inspiration that in which they were born. So I hang on to them, for better or worse.
Well anyway, that's all I got. Go check out the article for yourself - it's really quite informative - or better yet, you could write something for the blog! I'd really appreciate it?
And while you're coming up with brilliant ideas for a blog post for me, consider the 7th reason for writer's block and this wise piece of advise:
You keep imagining all the reasons people are going to say your story sucks, and it paralyzes you. Otherwise known as the Inner Critic - you can't make any choices, because you keep imagining how someone at GoodReads will tear you apart for it later. Actually, the person at GoodReads doesn't exist, and it's just your own internal critic talking here. You'll need that inner voice of scorn for later, when you're revising - but while you're working on a first draft, you have to drown it out, possibly with loud Finnish death metal.Don't worry, we won't judge you. We really do want to know what you have to say. Just remember, the only thing standing in the way of you and your goals, is you... and your goals.
Good night and good luck.
