Brick Walls
I have always been fairly arrogant about my writing ability. Not so much the quality of my work but my motivation and ability to pour out the pages with little stress. Over the last year or so, this has changed. I completed nothing in 2005, a bitter blow for my ego. And while I do not care for humbling experiences, I did learn about the difficulties of writing that I hadn't had before.
Hitting a brick wall hurts. Continuing to hit a brick wall hurts even more. Finding away over the wall is the trick. Today I finally feel like I've crested the top of this brick wall. I finished chapter one of my new WIP and am looking forward to chapter two. I think all writers hit brick walls. Sometimes they are simple retaining walls that require a minimum of effort to surmount. Other times, they are monsters and there is no way of climbing over them. Doesn't mean they are impossible, just means the writer needs to find another way around them. I've hit the gamut over the last year. Some I've managed to climb, others, I've given up on and chose a different path. Many of them have been daunting and I can't tell you how many times I merely wanted to hang it up and forget about writing altogether.
And I think I would have if it hadn't been for the blogging community. Every day I read posts from writers hitting and overcoming brick walls. I see their triumphs and their despairs and it gives me impetus to go on. I'm not the only one going through an obstacle course to getting a book published. As they say, misery loves company…. None of us likes to feel like we are alone and I think the blogsospere really hammers home how much we all have in common as writers.
Anyway, I see a correlation between my new outlook on writing and the cyber-community I have joined in the last year. So, those of you who are scaling your brick walls, look to bloggers to help and those who have gotten to the other side, know your triumph is helping others. I'd give you each a pound of Godiva chocolate if I were rich, but since I'm not, pretend I did.
Other stuff
I'm posting low fat recipes this week over at Search for the Good Life. Today is Overnight Oatmeal.
