Comments on: How to Overcome Obstacles to Writing, Part 2

By: Barb DeLong

Barb DeLong — Sat, 27 May 2023 16:21:15 +0000

Awesome post, Ellen, with wonderful solutions. I'm a very slow writer of a first draft, not because I don't know what will happen in a scene (I'm the consummate plotter), but because I feel the need to edit as I go. You'd think final edits would be a breeze, wouldn't you? Nope. Months later I'm still editing. My first fantasy romance published in January took me nine months to write and another year or so to edit. Book 2 is shaping up to be the same. Gotta speed this process up. My editor is waiting. Love the Tolkien quote--".. it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mold of the mind..." He has something there.

By: Denise

Denise — Sat, 27 May 2023 05:41:21 +0000

I just try to rework it, replot, figure out why it's not working, and then I can usually get back on the right path.

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Fri, 26 May 2023 22:51:32 +0000

In reply to Lisa Norman. Hi Lisa! The shape a story takes sound interesting. I thought about some of mine, but I'm seeing spiders. LOL Do you have another technique you can share?

By: Lisa Norman

Lisa Norman — Fri, 26 May 2023 19:37:17 +0000

Anxiety while writing - and editing - are a big challenge for me, and one that I don't have an instant win answer to. Mostly, I just keep moving ahead slowly. Writing is a drive for me, so not-writing is the only thing harder than the writing! I've done story mapping, but I don't think there's a specific system I can point to. My editor taught me some techniques and I've come to just sort of sketch the shape the story takes in my mind. Sometimes it is the form of a timeline with rising and falling tension or dramatic character arcs on it.

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Fri, 26 May 2023 16:54:09 +0000

In reply to Christina Hawthorne. Oh, Christina, you are so fortunate! I wish I were the same way and have writing be calming. What a fantastic distraction! Sometimes I draw for relaxation, but not as much as I used to. I've gone and gotten rusty.

By: Christina Hawthorne

Christina Hawthorne — Fri, 26 May 2023 13:59:04 +0000

Thank you for all the helpful suggestions and insights. It's the strangest thing, but nothing calms my anxiety more than— writing. Losing myself in a story, even while revising, fades my real life anxieties, despite the conflicts and tensions in the story. No matter how confused or indecisive my POV character, and no matter the trials she must face, it all calms me. On the surface, it's distraction, I suppose. It doesn't matter, I'll take it. How could I possibly complain about something that both soothes me and makes me more productive?

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Fri, 26 May 2023 13:08:29 +0000

In reply to Diana Stout. Hi Diana, Thank you! I'm glad the suggestions are useful. We are all in this together.

By: Diana Stout

Diana Stout — Fri, 26 May 2023 12:06:14 +0000

Great advice covering many frustrations writers face!