Falling off the Horse

There are writers who write. They're the dedicated, driven creatives who will put pen to paper, or fingertips on laptop keys, no matter what's going on around them or what's happening in their lives. And they will do it consistently, day in, day out. All weathers. All seasons. Good times and bad.

There are writers who write a little less consistently, but still manage to put the work in on a semi-regular basis when time and circumstances allow.

And there are writers like me who have creative spurts and then hibernate for years on end. We dance around our writing like a handbag on a disco floor. It's there, lying dormant under our feet, and we prance and jig in its presence but don't pick it up until we need something from it.

As writers, we know actual writing is something that must be done, but it's so HARD. The ideas for stories still form, usually (unless the brain's in a particularly foggy phase), but somehow we just can't reach for that notebook to get the words written.

It induces terrible feelings of guilt, this procrastination. Faced with the disciplined ones who forge ahead and get words on their pages on a daily basis, allowing nothing to get in their way, we're left questioning what the heck is wrong with us 'occasionals'. Is it just down to discipline, or are there deeper psychological forces at work? A fear of judgment or rejection of our work? Perfectionism? Too much life stuff getting in the way and an inability to balance it all?

I did a great Scriptwriting for Film and TV course in 2023 and the tutor was adamant that writer's block doesn't exist. He insisted that, particularly if you write for a living, you have to show up and do the work. There are no excuses. Bills have to be paid. You don't get tradespeople complaining of Plumber's Block, do you?

So, then you start to question whether you can call yourself a writer at all. I've produced books and stories, so I guess I must be. Just a very, very unproductive one.

After a very long stretch in the creative desert, I'm stumbling my way back to the craft. NaNoWriMo is something I've had a few attempts at in the past and I will give it a go again this year to try to kickstart a novel I've been trying to produce for the last five years.

I've fallen off the horse multiple times, but it's time to get my creaky old bones back in the saddle again and aim to stay in it for as long as I can.

Giddy up!