Writer's Block? Who has time?

Writer's block? Oh, I don't think so. For one thing, I've been writing almost constantly since this time last year. Also, I get paid to put words in a row, although that's not quite the same thing.

Oddly, I was never a very prolific writer.. A few poems in a year, maybe, then suddenly 4 in two weeks. The music is there, or it's not. And here's the thing. It seems to me that writer's block is just a case of having nothing to say, no stories to tell. And that's fine.

Let me say that again. That's fine. You can't force it. And I say this as a writer who has never until very recently been especially prolific. So don't fret about it. Go out, do stuff, see people, read good books (now is no time for fluff, your mind needs exercise), take a class in something besides writing, exercise your creativity in other areas. You need input before you can create output. Then when you have a story, write it.

Or, of course, you can just write about not being able to write. Some of the most tedious poems I've encountered online are by people complaining they can't write a poem. Too often, they're quite right. And yet... here is a poem. That they've written!

Mostly I prefer not to write much about writing. But here we are. Better late than never. And why have I been so neglectful of my patient readers? Well, I just finished the first draft of King's Raven, a 90-day race with myself and the #Write2TheEnd hashtag on Twitter. A 50-page sample and synopsis of Dragon Ring (title change from Sparrow's Dragon) are being reviewed by a first-tier F&Sf agent (heart beating faster), and I'm prepping to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days for NaNoWriMo which will be on top of me way too soon. The shifting gears from Raven's Victorians to Mermaid's Roman Britain is making me dizzy, but it's going to be fun.

Mermaid? You'll see next time as the adventure continues.