The Opposite of Writer’s Block

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Sometimes readers/writers don’t have time to read and write.  Jobs get crazy, and family stuff takes up a lot of time, so the reading/writing thing has to get pushed aside for a while.  This next week will be hectic, and I have four half-done pieces for Dysfunctional Literacy and very little time to read or write in the next five days.

That can get kind of frustrating.  I guess it’s the opposite of writer’s block.  I usually get writer’s block when I have lots of time to write, so I end up wasting that time.  Now, I have almost no time to write, and I have a bunch of ideas (though the ideas might not be any good). I’m not sure what the official term for the opposite of writer’s block is, so I’ll just call it “the opposite of writer’s block.”  Below are four different selections that I’m working on, but none of them are ready to be read yet.  In a way, this is like an unintended preview, a “Coming Attractions to Dysfunctional Literacy!”

CELEBRITY BOOKS

Lindsay Lohan is writing a tell-all.  No, I’m not writing about her tell-all, but the idea of her tell-all inspired me to categorize the best and worst kinds of celebrity books.  I included the Duck Dynasty books in one of the categories, and then Phil had to go and make himself controversial (or was made controversial, depending on how you look at it).  Duck Dynasty is NOT the reason why that article isn’t done yet (it’s a tiny part of the article).  I just haven’t finished writing it yet.

THE LITERARY GIRLFRIEND

I’ve tried to summarize what the next episode is about, but it sounds like a bad soap opera every time, so I’ve stopped trying.  Anyway, there’s some bad behavior, and Daniella loses her temper, and I always enjoy writing the episodes where Daniella loses her temper.

And just so you know, “The Literary Girlfriend” will finally conclude, probably by March, 2014.  When I started writing it in April, I thought the story would be done by August, but every scene was longer than I thought it was going to be.  I thought “Long Story” was going to be really long, but then it turned out to be shorter than I thought it would be, and now “The Literary Girlfriend” is way longer than “Long Story.”

RULES OF WRITING THAT I BREAK

I’ve noticed that I break a lot of writing rules on Dysfunctional Literacy.  Some of the rules, I don’t like, so I break them on purpose.  Some just happen.  In this half-written article, I’m looking at which writing rules I break and whether or not I (or writers in general) should break these rules.  Maybe it’s good to be a rule breaker.  Or maybe breaking these rules is what keeps me from being a successful writer.

BOOKS I DIDN’T MEAN TO READ

I just finished reading an old book that I never meant to read in the first place.  I didn’t pretend to read it; I actually read it, even though it was accidental.  I was surprised by a couple things about this book.  I’ll reveal what this book was and what about it surprised me.  Out of all four half-written pieces, this is the one I’m pessimistic about.  It’s not very interesting right now, so it might not get finished.  I’ll see how I feel next week.

*****

I’m not sure writing a preview will cure writer’s block.  I only wrote the previews because I’m in the opposite of writer’s block, and the preview was the only thing I could finish tonight.  Before today, I’d never written a preview.  I rarely even tell people what I’m working on until I’m done.  In fact, most people I know don’t even know about Dysfunctional Literacy (I’m good at keeping my mouth shut).

In the past, telling people what I was working on seemed to backfire on me, so we’ll see how many of the above selections I actually finish.  If I end up finishing NONE of them then I’ll probably never write a preview again.  But if I finish all of them (or even three of them), I may try this again.  Hey, the next time I get writer’s block, maybe I’ll try getting out of it by writing a preview.