Writing at War with Writing

There's only a finite amount of topics and word combinations a writer can use before they end up rendering their work as "stale." Once exhausted of their supply, they'll more often than not lean back in their chairs, exhale sharply and ask themselves, "Now what?"

Other artists perceive this as a simple case of writer's block when it is just a case of lack of inspiration. The two share the same symptoms, but the difference is that a writer's block (which doesn't exist) coaxes the writer to walk away frustrated and come back later, while the lack of inspiration subconsciously forces the writer to stare at their paper or computer screen and wait for something - anything - to provoke a written response to be penned or typed out.

I had one of those moments (yet again) today as I opened up Microsoft Word to start on a new story that's been on my mind recently. As I began to type some things out, I began drawing blanks and ended up with only a paragraph's work in the two hours I stared at my screen. (At least I think it was two hours - I've been losing my sense of time and date lately.)

So after that, I ended up going through my bookshelf and pulled out some books and DVDs I had - namely: Band of Brothers (both the book by Stephen E. Ambrose and the acclaimed miniseries - check them out if you haven't; great stuff). After having finished the first two episodes of the HBO program and the first five chapters of the book (for reference points: D-Day and the assault at Brécourt Manor), I leaned back again in my chair, asking myself why I kept jumping around like this.

I had no answer, so I went Google searching for quotes based on writing, writer's block, inspiration, and so on. After about several dozen clicks, I found this quote:



"Writing is 90 percent procrastination - reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write."
- Paul Rudnick



I realized that I've been putting this all off for quite some time and I told myself, "I'm going to get to that point. I know I will." Part of this internal struggle with myself, with my writing, has to do with timing and a muse kicking in when I'm not expecting it - or when I'm just on autopilot. I know I'm going to get out of this rut soon. I'll write something. Maybe after a few more episodes and chapters of Band of Brothers... maybe after a meaningful conversation with someone... maybe when I'm off stargazing*... maybe when I finally admit defeat after a twelve-hour staring contest with my laptop screen.


However, I have one question for myself: "When's my four in the morning going to kick in?"
Perhaps I'll find out while I'm at work.





* = Someone remind me one of these nights to go off and stargaze. Hell, someone remind me to write about it - I think I need to rant about it...