Open any writers’ magazine and somewhere in its pages there’ll be a reference to writer’s block. Writers frequently refer to it in their blogs and at every writers’ conference, even if there is no specific related subject on the programme, you’ll hear writers’ block in one of its many forms discussed over meals or coffee. The internet is teeming with articles and videos on how to overcome the dreaded syndrome.
Some writers deny that it exists at all. I suppose it depends on how you define writers’ block. Put simply, to quote Sean Glatch, “it’s a desire to write, and an inability to do so.” It can manifest itself in so many ways – lack of motivation – lack of creativity – lack of inspiration – out of ideas on how to carry on – self-doubt. It’s something even the great writers have faced at some point including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Herman Melville, Harper Lee, Scott Fitsgerald and Stephen King. I’m obviously in good company.
In several of my blog posts this year, I have bemoaned the fact that my life has been so busy that I have not had time to write. Up to a point that is true, but we all know that writers have to MAKE time to write. I seem to have lost that urgency to put pen to paper.
It’s not that I didn’t have an idea for this year’s book – another Fiona Mason mystery set in Paris and the surrounding area. I had my victim, several suspects and had committed several scenes to paper and composed a great many more in my head. The trouble was I just couldn’t whip up the enthusiasm to get on with it. I lacked the spark – that compulsion – to commit and not let myself get distracted by other things. Sometimes a series can run out of steam. I’m not saying there will never be another Fiona Mason. At the very least, I need to tie up a few ends. But that is for the future.
I came back from my Greenland cruise with ideas for a completely new series. It wasn’t so much the places we visited but the cruise setting that appealed to me. I’m not a plotter, but I do have the set up and the main characters clearly in my head plus the first chapter and the discovery of the body written. All I need now is the time.
We are off on holiday in October which I intend to use as a research trip for the next Harry and Aunt Jessica adventure. Plus, I have two cruises lined up for early next year that I will need to prepare for, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Anything can happen as I know from past experience. Just over a year ago, I began a completely new series set in the 1960s. I had a great set up plus a set of characters and even wrote the first few chapters. But again, the fire began to fade.
I’m hoping that telling everyone about my plans will force me to get on with it if only to save face. Even during my frenetic periods getting ready for a cruise, I’m determined to write something every week if only to fan the flames so to speak. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
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