Category Archives: writing

Writers Block

In all my years of writing and podcasting I have learned that writers block is indeed a real thing. There are times that I have no idea what to write or talk about.

Being that this blog is done for entertainment and not for a job, I can just wait till it passes. I don’t have to worry about deadlines or paychecks.

Sometimes that makes it difficult to come up with topics to discuss with you all. Other times that makes it easy, just talk about what I want to.

Also, it makes it easier for me to avoid topics that I do not want to discuss like politics and the Yankees. Being your own boss without deadlines has its advantages.

However it is not all fun and games. I have referenced the story I have been writing on this site for years, and it took me far longer than it should have to complete the first draft.

With no one to check in on me or ask me about it, I sometimes went months or even more than a year without writing anything. Makes it difficult to keep a train of thought.

In trying to come up with my article for this week, my ideas were limited which is why it is about writers block. Sometimes you just have to be real with everyone.

I believe that deadlines are good things. They help the world go around. Also, some information needs to get out there in a timely manner.

I write about sports on my other site, and there are some stories that I just flat out miss. I don’t have the time to do the story justice.

In conclusion I thought I would drop some gems of wisdom from other authors on writers block. Enjoy.

“When you face writer’s block, just lower your standards and keep going.” — Sandra Tsing Loh

“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.” — John Rogers

“Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego.” — Norman Mailer

Ideas are strange and temperamental things. We all have them, and sometimes we need to write them down, even if we think that we are blocked.

Backstory and the Challenge it Presents

One of the reasons I started this site was to work on my story telling. I am an aspiring writer, I would like to get a few of my novel ideas published. Eventually. When I come up with a story idea and create the characters, I have a general idea of their backstory. The problem is that I want to write the story and not the backstory. I am figuring out that is the wrong way (for me) to go about it.

I have gotten stuck on every story I have begun writing. I believe it is because I only can develop characters so far before I get stuck without a proper backstory. For me, I have discovered that I need that backstory to help me write consistent decisions and feelings. I need to know how the character grew up, what kind of problems they had to overcome, how they were raised and so on. In short, I feel like a character can not be a fully developed character unless they have a fully developed backstory.

This will extend my writing process significantly, but I also believe that it will improve my writing in the long run. Some of the questions I need answered are things like:

  1. Where did the character grow up?
  2. Does the character have any siblings?
  3. What was their home life like growing up?
  4. What led them to be where they are at the beginning of the story?
  5. What kind of social life did the character have before the story beings?
  6. Have they suffered any great losses?

The list could go on, but you get the general idea. I have been working on one particular story since 2013, and I am stuck. I may have to take the time to go back and write backstory for ALL of the characters to help me. It would be an undertaking. When trying to write a series though, it seems like it should be an undertaking! I hope to have a manuscript ready by the end of this calendar year. We shall see.

In the meantime, I will begin posting some short stories here on the site. It is time. I have been reluctant to publish anything of substance here because I never see my work as finished. I can always improve on it. If I start sharing them with you all, maybe I can finally get some of these characters out of my head and onto paper (or website, as it were). So in the coming months I should be posting more on here. I hope you enjoy reading and will continue to enjoy reading.