I've been doing alot of research on writer's block, and working through the low points. The biggest thing I'm learning is that there is alot of mental work that goes into writing. You have to be in tune with your inner self. Lots of books and writers sometimes refer to thier creative side as the child within. The child loves to play and have fun. But when you try to make them work they suddenly turn petulant or find something else to do. That description seemed to accurately describe my problem lately. I've been so wrapped up in the fact that I need to work, work, work to get published. I'm quite ok with working hard for it. But somewhere along the way I forgot to enjoy it. I forgot to find happiness in it. As a result, writing has been like pulling teeth. My inner two year old has dug in her heels and she's not budging. The more I try to bully her out of the corner the more she hides.
Another person i met virtually at The Muse Online Writers Conference is Tamlyn Leigh. (Don't you just love her name?) She has a blog that helps writers find their bliss. She also had a class where she assigned us all to write about our inner two year olds. She had us describe their reactions to writing, their likes and dislikes. So I'm going to introduce you all to my inner two year old. (BTW, the picture is really me at about age 3, but I couldn't find any pictures of me at two.)
My inner two year old has brown hair and big brown eyes. She even has little dimples when she smiles. She loves to be happy and play. She hates any form of work. She loves to sing and dance to any song with a beat. She doesn’t care that she’s terrible at both. Demands on her time drives her crazy. When it comes to writing, she loves new stories. She loves the twists and turns and gets absolutely giddy when she writes about a side kick to the head (even though in retrospect, it really wasn’t that funny.) She loves dreaming about authordom, and her published life. Reality is no fun to her. Editing hurts her feelings and has her cowering in the corner as her side kick to the head gets cut. Rejection letters cut her to the quick and leave her refusing to jump through all the hoops, cuz that’s no fun. She needs to be taken by the hand and told that it’s ok. She needs a big hug and to be told that I love her.
My lastest mission is to have fun with my two year old. To let her play, to convince her that even editing is a blast. To find the fun in life.
Another person i met virtually at The Muse Online Writers Conference is Tamlyn Leigh. (Don't you just love her name?) She has a blog that helps writers find their bliss. She also had a class where she assigned us all to write about our inner two year olds. She had us describe their reactions to writing, their likes and dislikes. So I'm going to introduce you all to my inner two year old. (BTW, the picture is really me at about age 3, but I couldn't find any pictures of me at two.)
My inner two year old has brown hair and big brown eyes. She even has little dimples when she smiles. She loves to be happy and play. She hates any form of work. She loves to sing and dance to any song with a beat. She doesn’t care that she’s terrible at both. Demands on her time drives her crazy. When it comes to writing, she loves new stories. She loves the twists and turns and gets absolutely giddy when she writes about a side kick to the head (even though in retrospect, it really wasn’t that funny.) She loves dreaming about authordom, and her published life. Reality is no fun to her. Editing hurts her feelings and has her cowering in the corner as her side kick to the head gets cut. Rejection letters cut her to the quick and leave her refusing to jump through all the hoops, cuz that’s no fun. She needs to be taken by the hand and told that it’s ok. She needs a big hug and to be told that I love her.
My lastest mission is to have fun with my two year old. To let her play, to convince her that even editing is a blast. To find the fun in life.
Feel free to introduce us all to your inner two year old in the comment section. My toddler would love to set up a play date!! I can't wait to meet them all.
I loved Tamlyn's class! You may have met my inner two-year old there:
ReplyDeleteMy two year old is wearing a pink frilly dress, blonde hair up in pigtails. But that doesn't stop her from getting dirty, or stripping down to a diaper (or less) for true freedom. She's already a night owl, staying up late to play with her toys, telling stories about her Little People.
She is scared of dark places, like under the porch. Her older brothers friends are so big and make her nervous. [Just like the big publishers.]
My writing is best when I strip down the conventions, stop listening to outside forces. My inner two year old puts on the charm when she gets attention, such as from a good response to my writing. She loves to know others are entertained.
She hides from the darkness, the unknown, of the blank page. She has a hard time moving forward without all the corners being lit.
Feywriter-I was wondering if that was you at the conference. But there could be more than one feywriter. How awesome that we took the same class! Thanks for sharing your inner two year old, she sounds so fun!
ReplyDeleteMy inner two-year-old has impish blue eyes and fly-away brown hair. Intense and thoughtful, she weaves elaborate schemes, draws plans with her crayons for magnificent toys and contraptions, then cries when no one can even tell what they are, let alone build them. She loves telling lies just to see if she can fool the grown-ups. Desperately lonely, she invented a cavalcade of imaginary friends who follow her everywhere.
ReplyDeleteShe watches and listens to everything---to the people around her, to the birds, to the trees, to the grass, to the cars in the street and the planes in the sky. All of it means something, if she could just stretch her eyes wide enough and get her ears open to let it in.
Anxious to please, devastated when she meets disapproval of any kind, she'll do anything for attention and then feel terrible afterwards.
Wow! This is a great writing exercize, Nikki! And a good way to diagnose what ails my struggling writer.
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ReplyDeleteMy inner two year old was as determined as she's always been... even though she got upset and did cry over edits, she stepped back and thought things through and realized the editor was right. My inner two year old never stopped beleiving in herself and was/is constantly turning to the Lord through blessings, scriptures, personal prayer and temple worship to help her see her goal. my two year old new the ONLY way she was going to succeed is if she followed the Lord's advice every step of the way. My inner two year now want's to help other two year olds to be happy AND LOVE editing! Cuz fankly, it rocks! Yes, took a while to learn that--but yeah, it really does.
ReplyDeletePS great post nikki! And man, I think I'm gonna cry now, you took out the side-kick to the head? That WAS hilarious!!! LOL!