Overcoming Writer's Block and arriving back to fate.

How many times have you found yourself in a massive writers block?  What have you done in between?  Did you feel awful that you couldn't write anything?  How long did it last?  Are you in one right now?  Worrying that you won't have anything more to write?

Don't fret.  It's going to always wait for you and will literally hug you when you come back with the pen that rocks the novel.

I have suffered from writer's block on more than several occasions.  Years ago when I wrote my first romance novel, I had to put it away for well over a year.  I had finished it and then hit a low, thinking I would never get it published.  This was a time of suffering where I had to put it away and realize that there were so many things in life worth living and writing for.

So, I left the book for more like two years.  Then, one spring maybe even in 2010, I decided to edit the novel and rewrite it.  I think for those few years in between, I was just taking a break from the writing and the paper dolls that I make and was reading books. That's all I did for a while.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series was one of my favorites.   I read those back to back.  And I also liked Secrets to the Grave and Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag.

I got mostly done with the editing in the summer of 2010 and then I went on to write my Auto Biography of my married years for my kids.  It felt good to get back into the writing.

Finally in October or Nov. of 2010, I decided it was time to write my first mystery novel, Black Roses.  I wrote that one non stop with no case of writer's block.  Typed it and edited it and then in February I got it self published.

So, then I later in 2011 started blogging, writing for Hubpages, Triond, Wikinut, Wizzley and a few other sites. I was writing non stop for a while.  Finally at the end of the year, I hit a lull and discovered I was having writer's block.

In January and February of this year, I wrote at my blog as much as I could as I was part of NaBloPoMo.  And in February, I think I got writer's block and didn't write for a while.  I took up knitting again in December and sewing.  I hadn't done those two things for  while too.  And I had stopped writing new chapters on my new novels since December.

I knew they were there and that I would some day come back to it.  And I also in the last month or so, I stopped writing at my blog for a little bit.  Ebay took over and I was busy there for a while.

Well, finally about three weeks ago, I made myself come back to my blogs.  Or at least this one, as it is the most popular.  I started writing again and realized how much I missed it.

Then, last week, I brought my novel, The Glorious Money Tree over to this blog and I made myself write the next chapter.  It felt great to get back into writing it.  It was almost as if I had never left.  I did have to read through my earlier chapters to brush up on what I had written.  Every novel has a set of facts and  history that you as the novelist have to pay attention to.  You have to make sure it all gels together and makes sense.

But as I wrote that chapter, I seemed to jump back into the children's thoughts and it was so easy to write.  Right now, I am working on the next chapter, where they are going to actually plant the coins to grow the money tree.  I started it a few nights ago and then took a break.

We do need breaks sometimes.  Which is why I didn't write anything on my blog yesterday.  I felt zonked.  I had to get a flat tire fixed in the morning after my kids got on the bus for school.  Luckily it was a quick and inexpensive fix.

When I got back to the kids house, I decided to just take a nap on their couch.  I was so sleepy yesterday, slow to wake up and tired.  I ended up taking at least a two hour nap or maybe longer.  I was sleeping through Days of Our Lives.

And, yesterday, I basically just watched my ebay items for sale and I worked on my knitted skirt, which was crying for me to come back to finish it.  Still not finished, but the pink skein is getting smaller.  When the skein is gone it means DONE.

And when I got home to my house, I just decided to pop in The Help DVD and I ended up falling asleep to it.  When Gone comes in a few days, you can bet I won't be falling asleep to that one.  I might even want to buy it if I like it well enough.

I am so glad that I am working on my novel again.  I love writing and it just feels like a wonderful novel.  I feel myself entering the minds of little children and viewing how they think about the world around them  I love coming up with dialogue and story lines.  I am not the novelist who has a structured outline of where the novel is going.

I am the novelist who writes as I go, writing on the spur of the moment, and letting fate take it where it needs to go.

So, whenever you feel writer's block beginning to take over, just go with it.  You probably need a break to refresh your mind.

Jennifer Jo Fay

May 15, 2012

My daughter's lips.  I took this picture and edited it in my Photo Professional software.