Blogcritics: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love To Write Again

Ain't life a funny old thing? The twist and turns that it takes you on, you never know where you're going to end up. You need look no further than the guy typing this thing that you're reading for a good example of that. I'm not even talking about major life changing events, of which I've experienced a few, but the little casual things that end up sending ripples through your entire life.

Seven months ago I was looking for a way to practice my writing skills. I had been plugging away at a novel for about a year, eked out a few poems, and written a couple of short articles. I had opened an account at one of the many self-publishing houses on the web, Lulu.com, in the hopes that people would actually buy the material of an author they had never heard of.

Something was missing though. No matter how many words I wrote, or how many pages I'd publish, nothing felt right. I was getting bored with my own writing, and it was a struggle to remain interested in what my characters were doing. I figured that wasn't a good sign: if I wasn't interested in what my creations were doing who the hell was going to be.

To make matters worse all my ideas were beginning to feel and sound contrived. I'd read some dialogue and wonder if that's what people really sounded like or if a piece of action was realistic in the context of what I'd created.

Then I realized it wasn't a matter of what the characters did or said that was awkward, it was the way in which they were doing and saying things that was strange. Instead of my words seamlessly piecing together the little pictures of a jigsaw puzzle to create one final image, I was forcing them to fit together with a sledgehammer. The, if it doesn't work use a bigger hammer approach may work for computer repair, but it sure doesn't work for writing!

That's when I made the decision that I should begin blogging. I needed a place where I could write about anything under the sun, and with freedom. It's one thing to care about your writing, but another altogether to be uptight about it to the point that you can't write anymore. I needed a place where I could write and learn to develop some emotional detachment from the work.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and The Unofficial Heroes Of Olympus Companion, both published by Ulysses Press. He has had his work published in print and online all over the world including the German edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and www.Qantara.de. …

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