JD Mader is an award winning short story writer and novelist. 'Joe Café' and 'The Biker' are out now, as well as 'Please, no eyes'. and the collaborative 'Bad Book'. Mader has been writing for half his life and has no plans on stopping any time soon. Learn more about JD Mader at his blog and his Amazon author page.
I will never understand people who write for a living but don’t like it. And there are such people. It’s not like we’re rich. Hell, that would be like me deciding my calling was cleaning out portajohns. Writing is hard, it takes a long time, and you rarely get the adulation or money you deserve.
I was talking to one of these people recently. I asked him how he came to be bat-shit crazy. He mumbled something about a “son of a bitchin’ press release” and haroomphed a big loogey. That was my cue to leave.
I love Louis CK. He is our Lenny Bruce. There is something about him that makes everything he says funny. He says things that no one else could pull off. It’s quite amazing. Do some googling if you haven’t heard of him.
I’m thinking about Louis CK this morning because I’ve started doing an advice column, and it’s pretty NOT PG-13. But people like it. My family hates it of course. That is to be expected because it is different hearing your loved one curse (or talk about weird fetishes) than hearing a stranger curse (or talk about weird fetishes). But it raises an interesting dilemma.
He reclined on his couch, sore and tired, eyes drawn to the soft undulations of the tree beside the window. His mind was cobwebbed and dusty. His bed was calling him. But he had a blog post to write. He could feel it flitting behind his memories…hiding in the shadow of his regrets and triumphs.
[This is an encore presentation of JD Mader’s post. Please tune in on Thursday for JD’s victorious return.]
I want to talk for a second about how to deal with writer’s block – don’t. Writer’s block is a myth. It is a psych-out. I have been writing for half my life and I have taught enough writing workshops to honestly believe that writer’s block does not exist…unless you let it exist.
Let me qualify that a bit. There are times when I am blocked on a certain piece, certainly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t write. Writer’s block is fear, pure and simple. And it is easy to let that fear dominate you. But it is easy to avoid, too.
I write every day. Usually around 500 words. A lot more lately. There is never a day when I ‘can’t write’, because I don’t try to force it. If I am working on a novel and I feel jammed up, I write a story. If I can’t think of a story, I look around me…I start describing something. Usually, that leads to something. Sometimes it leads to 500 words of description. So what? Continue reading “Blocking Writer’s Block – Encore”
I will never understand people who write for a living but don’t like it. And there are such people. It’s not like we’re rich. Hell, that would be like me deciding my calling was cleaning out portajohns. Writing is hard, it takes a long time, and you rarely get the adulation or money you deserve.
