On Writer's Block and Real Life

I’ve not posted much in the past few weeks, I know that. The main reason for this is the complete lack of motivation I’ve felt recently. I’ve mentioned writer’s block before, in several posts in the past, saying that it’s just an excuse for being purely lazy. In the recent weeks though I’ve come to realise that there may be more to it than just laziness. 

Life has a way of getting to us all. We all have different coping mechanisms, some people find new relationships, others take up exercise and others still find a new hobby. My coping mechanism seems to be that I lose any motivation to write, or if I am writing I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve been jobless for the past three months. This may not seem too bad, particularly in light of the economic situation at the minute, but job searching has a way of getting to you. The constant applications and rejections slowly start to wear down at my self esteem, making me feel more and more like a failure. I lose the motivation not just to apply for jobs but for a lot of other things, including writing and drawing. I’ve felt myself slipping into that black hole of despair that many writers and artists teeter on the edge of and in the past week or so I’ve clawed my way back into the sunlight.

I managed to finish the Script Frenzy script, I’ve been writing random one-shots based in that universe for a group I’ve joined on LiveJournal and I’m starting to feel a whole lot better about myself. Part of this is due to simple comments on my writing that I’ve received through the group, little things like they like certain parts of the stories or random little nuggets of the text that I slipped in because my mind goes a little loopy after 8pm. I even got a call yesterday about a job. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get it as it would require me to have a driving license which I sadly lack but the fact that that was the only thing holding me back from it just served to reassure me.

But the fact of the matter is that I did get writer’s block and lost all motivation. But it wasn’t because I’m lazy and not because I believe that the creative muse is a fickle beast that flitters off like a butterfly at inappropriate times but because I’m human and I got sad. It’s something to think about and it has really made me realise how much life can affect us all in ways we didn’t even realise.

So, as I sit here on this rainy Thursday afternoon I ask that you remember this when decrying writer’s block. It’s a large generic term that too often gets used as an excuse but when it comes down to it writer’s block is a cover all term that simply says that the writer can’t write. Not because the ideas aren’t there but because there’s something else going on in their lives. Distractions are things that will and do happen to us all.

It’s life after all. Live it.

Creative Bursts, Decisions and Fashion

I got serisouly sidetracked last month. Even in the last week. I fully intended to write a blog post a fortnight ago, even wrote it on a sheet of paper and everything. That sheet of paper disappeared into the filing system that is my room though but the good news is I found it today. I'm not going to tell you what it said though, nyah nyah nur-nur nyah :P
Instead I'm going to write a new one, and maybe now and then pull bits from what I wrote if I can find where I put it... oh bugger.
Any whoo... I've gone a bit of a writing spree, in the hope of finally acheiving some monthly deadlines... it's semi-worked. I've written and finished the first draft of three chapters for a novel (incidentally the novel is not the one I originally planned to write but something completely different that spanned from a simple image in my noggin). I completely finished the introduction of my webcomic and have managed to draw the first four pages of the First Book. I also managed to write down some basic information for five different countries in my fantasy world. This makes me sound very geeky but the sheer amount of stuff I expected myself to do was a little ridiculous. I need to learn to stop setting myself ridiculous targets.
This creative burst was spurred on in part, I think, by the fact that I finally decided whether I was going to do the Masters or not. I decided not. I'm just fed up of being poor and to be honest, weirdly fed up of having so much free time on my hands. Plus I'm wanting a break from constant assignments and deadlines. I know I'll probably get them in the real world but they're not as... educational deadlines I suppose. If I decide I want to go do a Masters again next year I can always save up and reapply, this time without the worry of applying for a loan. In fact that actually seems like the better option.
Now onto the third part of my post's title. It's a little unrelated to writing and reading but fashion is a creative output so I fgured I'd include it. Another reason that I'm wanting to get a real job is that I want to be able to update my wardrobe or expand it when I want to and not have to worry about next week's food shop. I'm starting to develop my own personal style and hopefully soon I may well be posting pictures of the day's outfit. So this blog may soon get renamed, relating to fashion as well as writing. I'm looking at doing a collaboration with other bloggers to put links to each other's blog in our own blogs and maybe expand readerships.