Writing about writer's block
Posted on
It comes to something when the topic I've chosen to write about is none other than 'writer's block'. The blogs I've written recently have been increasingly difficult to write due to an apparent shortage of ideas. If I were writing fiction—which I frequently do in my spare time—it wouldn't be an issue. I quite often come up with ideas for stories and it's usually only my distance from a computer or some other means of writing that prevents me from getting the ideas onto a page.
These blogs, however, are different. For the most part I try to keep them factual and non-fiction. Where possible, I try to enrich them with humour and perhaps include the odd quote where appropriate to keep them interesting. I always aim to write at least 500 words. The site doesn't have a 'theme' so I have creative licence to write about anything I want. You'd think, therefore, that coming up with two topics a month would be pretty easy, right? Wrong!
When I set the site up in the November of 2007, it was purely as experiment. I'd always wanted an excuse to write more often than I did at the time, but on this occasion, setting up the site was as much about playing with the technology as about giving me an outlet for my writing. In fact the first blog entry was written simply so the site had something on it!
It wasn't until January of 2008 that blogging became a more regular affair for me. While I had a host of ideas back then, I was already acutely aware that the abundance of topics wouldn't last forever. With that in mind, I've aimed to 'limit' myself to two entries per month ever since. (So far there's only been one month (April 2008) where I didn’t manage two articles, but since the January of that year had three, it balances out!)
These days, sitting down to write a new entry is somewhat trickier. It's more difficult that I originally thought it would be to come up with original material that is suitable for this style of writing. Sometimes, even when I think I've found a perfect topic, I quickly realise, once I start to write, that I'm not going to get anywhere close to 500 words out of it. Other times, I just can't seem to think of a topic at all. I'm usually okay once I have a solid idea in mind. It's getting to that point that's the tricky part.
Today is no different. I'm a little late with my second entry this month and, having stared at a blank page for a while now, the only topic that springs to mind is the one that would otherwise prevent any words from appearing on it. I'm not sure whether using 'writer's block' as a blog topic when I can’t think of anything else to write is a form of irony, but in the absence of anything else, I'm going to go with it!
Next month promises to offer more in the way of excitement—not least in the form of a year-long creative writing course that I'm due to start at the beginning of the month. Here's hoping I'll have something more interesting to write about!