The Block is Bullshit (and Other News)

I’m convinced the whole writer’s block thing is bullshit. Let me tell you why. The only time I’ve ever been tempted to use that excuse for an alleged “lack of creativity” isn’t because I was uninspired. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for writing, the right mood, and in some cases I was just using it as an excuse for being downright lazy. At some point all writers have to buck-up, sit their asses down in a chair, and force themselves to write. Especially if you want to make a go of writing as a career.

Your editor doesn’t give a crap if you have writer’s angst, or you’re uninspired, or you don’t feel like writing. I’m pretty sure (s)he doesn’t care if you have writer’s block. Mine don’t. They say, “Stephanie, we need this by XXX date.”  I say, “Okay.”  That date shows up and it’s in their inbox. Period. The only exception to that has been when tragedy struck. Like when my laptop died last spring and when my grandmother passed away last autumn.

If anything – “writer’s block” is the self-created psychological condition of a writer and only the writer him or herself can find his or her way out of that block. For me, the easiest cure is to sit down and force myself to write.  Eventually it’s going to flow. It’s also why I constantly write in this blog.  If anything, I’m (mostly) consistent with the blog. If nothing else, it keeps me writing.

In other news – moving right along on Into Darkness. I really don’t understand why that last scene gave me so much grief. Probably because I was expecting it to be more grand than it actually was and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.

On that note Anne fans will be thrilled to hear that aside from having Switched outlined, the book has officially entered the “began writing” phase. I didn’t want to. Really, I was going to wait to start it. But my Doms, well you all know Doms. They have their own ideas and quite frankly, I didn’t have a choice. My Dom characters can be downright sadistic in their punishments. They won’t let me sleep if I don’t do as I’m told. And a girl needs her beauty sleep! So of course I wrote the scene (hint: it deals with topping from the bottom) and I’m not upset that I did. It’s a good scene imho (strong bones). Perhaps before the end of the month I’ll post a sneak preview.  🙂

Don’t let that worry you though! Other Anne titles are not delayed by this new development.  I added another 3K to My Neighbor Enslaved just this weekend. I hit a pretty good groove there. Very sexy scene. I still don’t know where MNE will end up, whether it will be a short or a novella.  It still has to go through more revision and I need to get my transition scenes in place. So it goes…

Thanks for reading and enjoy your Wednesday! 🙂