The Excuser

You have been reading. And learning from reading. That is good. But now you need to sit down and write. You have been ignoring your problem and instead have taken to walking down the path admiring other people's roses. That's well, for a while, but when you do that:

1) the writer in you loses focus
2) the creator in you starts dozing
3) the story in you wanders away
4) the doubter in you begins doing that horrible disgusting self-emolliation thing that makes me want to kick your backside. Hard.

Writing Demons

Today I found a very appropriate picture and I named it Writing Demons:

Which is your demon hanging onto you, Writer?

1) Doubt

2) Procrastination

3) Fear

4) Daily Chores (yes, bills, included)

5) Family

6) FEAR (there is a capital-lettered one different from #3)

7) Blockage

8) Over-Analysis

9) Bloatedness

10) False Friends

11) Dependence

12) Critics and Fear of Criticism

13) Desire, or lack of

14) Dreams and Fantasies

15) Weak Will

There are more, but let's stop here before you scare yourself too much. Or maybe, you can tell me what is it exactly that's freezing your brain these days? I am a good listener.

A Plot Rendered Unusable

Could it be the

101 ways to harpoon a whale inserted in the middle of an angsty whale hunting/soul searching metaphor?

the ten pages of how the bomb was built while the hero looks at the device?

500 characters who have a say in what goes on in the story?

the three dozen times your heroine sabotages the plot with her stupidity?

the plodding description of every room in the house and everyone's clothes?

the joylessness of five thousand sexual positions in one night?

the cute child who has a wise saying/observation every five pages?

We can discuss each of these, if you like, to see why they can kill a plot for a reader. Can you come up with a writing block that stopped your interest?

I call this block Plot Poop Interruptus. It's curable.