I had some trouble deciding on a topic for today's posts. Although I did come up with several subjects, I rejected each of them for different reasons. Finally, I realized I was suffering from a blog block, so I decided to write about that.
For me, blog block and story block are caused by two separate issues. Blog block often happens when I don't have a subject for a post. Once I come up with one, I can generally outline the main points in my head before I write. The block/slow writing I'm going through for Summon the Seasons is different in that I know where I'm going with the story, but I don't always have the specifics of how I want to get there. It may be hard picking the right words for a specific line, or my idea for the immediate scene may change to something other that what I had originally intended. Little time and lack of sleep don't help either. I need more energy or brainpower to write fiction than I do for nonfiction.
If you blog, do you ever suffer from blog block? How do you think it compares to story block? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
Story block is more not knowing where to go and blog blog is not knowing where to begin.
ReplyDeleteI outline to death, so I rarely have story block. Once in a great while I'll scrape for a blog topic, but there's usually something interesting happening in the the entertainment world.
That's part of the reason I like to do science posts, Alex; there's always something to talk about too.
ReplyDeleteI have a notebook specifically with blog post ideas, but every once in a while I still get stuck. It might be a great idea, but I might not be in the mood to write about it, or worse, I have no pictures to accompany it.
ReplyDeleteWith both story block and blog block the best solution for me is to read something else. I almost always get unstuck by reading something out of my normal range. It gives me a new perspective and inspiration.
Story block is a lot more important. If you get blog blocked you can just share a funny cat video or something.
ReplyDeleteAt one point in time I had issues with blog block, but then I isolated the themes I most enjoyed blogging and worked out a schedule: Mondays for deep thoughts, Wednesdays for book stuff, and Fridays for funnies. That all kind of melted into the same thing when life got insane, which is why I typically blog once a week with either funnies and a book giveaway, or an inspirational thought and a giveaway.
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