Writing Frustrations

[kiranwearsscienceblues]

Bah, writing has been such a mess for me this past year and it's driving me insane. When I was in grad school, I managed to write more than 120K of fic in a year, even while working on my dissertation -- but now that I'm out of academia (hell, currently unemployed), with much more reasonable hours and more free time? No siree, can't write at all. I think I probably wrote maximum 500 words all of 2021, and I'm getting pretty close to two years of just no writing. I've never had a block this bad; before, even if I wasn't in a writing swing, I would still write a oneshot every few months.

Not sure what to do at this point. I gave it time, to see if the inspiration would come back on its own. I've tried to push through the block and just write, but to no avail. Even when I do get my daily 500 down, I lose the thread the next day and can't seem to finish even a one-shot. I definitely need to find the inspiration again, but I'm not sure how. I'm sure the insomnia isn't helping much, but my insomnia is getting marginally better (although I say this on three hours of sleep), and the writing isn't coming back.

Anybody have any tips about breaking out of a bad writers block? 

Comments

[kiranwearsscienceblues]

I'm glad your block and insomnia got better! And yeah, insomnia is just not a friend of creativity, even on the days I feel like I got at least enough sleep to not be a zombie.

You're probably right about just giving it time. And, if I'm being honest, the fact that it's frustrating me again is a good sign -- there's that itch to be creative at last, but not enough creative energy coming to do much. (And my insomnia HAS been getting better, so that is, again, probably correlated.) But letting myself try new directions might help see what does come!

Thanks again for your support!

[vegetablearian]

I think you're right, it's a good sign! I'm crossing my fingers for you, too.