Friday, October 3, 2014

Writing Is Social (For Me)

I know I've spoken a bit about my lack of writing in previous posts, but I'm not sure if I explained just how awful my 'writer's block' was. Beginning in March of this year, I was lucky to have two projects finished in a month.

This may sound like a good thing, but I'm a poet. I also write short stories. None of these 'projects' were novels. Most of them were under 500 words.

I'm not used to this. I am used to writing like crazy. Once I get into a story, it's easy for me to lose track of time and write thousands of words a day.

I did not write in August. Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself - I did write blog posts. But blogging and writing aren't the same to me. Writing holds an extremely special place in my life and fiction, especially, seems to be the only thing that 'counts' when it comes to the benefits I get through writing.

I knew this entire time I wanted to write again. I just didn't know how.

Recently, I decided to share my work online again. If you keep up with my posts, you know that I posted a couple of poems here on the blog. But I also created a new Wattpad account. And I joined Writer's Cafe as well.

On both sites, I posted an old post of mine called Weightless. It's a short story that I wrote in April, and it's a piece I am pretty proud of. At first, these writing sites consisted of distractions and my hopes that, slowly, I could get back into writing.

I wrote around 1,500 words today. My 'September 2014' folder, created yesterday, has four completed works in it. It took some pushing through, but it no longer seemed impossible. I am excited to write.

My point is, writing has to be social for me. I have to share my work. I cannot sit down and write a novel and think, after this has been written and edited ten times, I may be able to publish and share it with the world. Of course I would love to be published. Of course I want to write a novel. But I need side projects and discussions with other writers. I need critiques and sweet comments. I need that interaction in order to write.

I guess the reason is that I've always had that interaction. When I was very small, I would show my parents or grandparents. When my writing began to feel more personal, I stopped writing and my next 'big idea' was to draw and become an artist. And then I found writing sites online and began to write again, this time sharing with strangers.

This habit could be good or bad, but I'm not really speculating on that right now. I'm more happy that I found out what blocks me. I am thrilled that I have found my way back to these words.

2 comments:

  1. This is quite a lovely post! I'm not an avid writer, mostly because I lack the patience it takes but I do occasionally write. Still, I have a slight inkling to how your writer's block might be. I guess it's part of being a writer, or a reviewer, or a blogger. You have the ups and downs. But I'm glad you've found something that works for you. I don't think it matters whether it's good or bad, as long as it helps bring out the creativity in you. Happy writing!

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    1. Thank you! And you're right; it doesn't matter so long as it works, and so far it has :)

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