Friday, January 22, 2010

The Psychology of a Writer

Dennis Palumbo was a successful writer.....but
"He became a therapist who specializes in helping writers overcome their psychological problems, and Lord knows writers have a lot of such problems; otherwise we wouldn't be writers."

-Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing
David Morrell on Writers Block

(This ties in with my other two posts- Writers and their Souls and Why do you want to be a Writer? )

Writers writing is greatly affected by their lives. When we are going through difficult, trying episodes in life, creativity will often refuse to come. We may be at a road block or be suffering from a wretched plot plan or maybe we are being hammered by so much self doubt and our inner critic is telling us to through it all away.

If you are a writer, you have suffered from writer's block. :-)

Is there a simple answer? No. But if it truly is a technical problem, review your work, if it's in your head, keep looking forward. Write, write, write! Then you can revise.

And of course, read what successful writers have said on the subject. They suffer from it too! Sometimes there really is a time to take a break, but remember when you stop, your going to have to get those writing muscles back in shape again.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

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