Writer’s block is a bitch. No, I don’t mean, “female dog.” I mean, “that girl that cuts in front of you in line at Murphy’s and orders 7 drinks for her skank-ass friends.”
For the past month or so, I have been eating a “Gotta Have It” sized portion of Writer’s-Block-Cake-Batter Ice Cream. Writer’s block isn’t some metaphysical condition where you’ve angered the gods and you pray to fairies to sprinkle ideas into your head while you sleep. Inspiration does play a part in the writing process, but it’s not everything.
Writer’s block is creative laziness.
I work full-time. I come home from my 8 hour day. What do I do? Work on a sketch? Tweak a play? Blog on the Lowdown, one of the 217’s latest blogs subliminal message go read it subliminal message?
I turn on Bravo. And watch hours of reality competition shows.
Then I go to bed.
Lather.
Rinse.
Brain rot.
I just don’t feel like writing. I’m tired.
So much of great writing is work. You vomit your thoughts on paper like a sorority girl at Kam’s, but then you gotta clean it up. You actually have to write drafts. In college, I got so used to churning out a decent paper on the first try that this whole “revision” concept is tough to grasp.
I would like to officially declare my writer’s block dead. This week, I finished up a draft of a one-act play I’ve been tinkering with for the past 4 months. This play was a challenge to write. Unlike my previous plays, which have essentially been extended episodic sketches, this one actually has, ya know, relationships and emotional development yadda yadda yadda. But I finally finished it, as frustrating as the process was. And I can’t wait to submit it to the Penny Dreadful Players’ upcoming 10-minute play festival.
Speaking of which, so should you. Every year, my theater troupe does a 10-minute play festival featuring original writing by students. Be creative. Write something. I assure you that you have something interesting to say. We all do. Send your submissions to pdpsubmissions@gmail.com. Deadline is Friday, y’all, so get on it.
If you say you’ve got writer’s block
no excuse.
This LITERALLY happened to me.
