Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

how do writers get over their writer's block? or how do baseball players get over their slump?

i'm sort of in a slump at work. need my creative juices to flow, but i feel as though i'm tapped out.

what do i do?

Last edited by namja on 07-14-2001 at 08:49 PM

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 60

Go have a beer.

Just a thought....

-Russ

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-Anybody we have not unplugged could potentially be an agent-

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

quote:

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Originally posted by RocketScientist
Go have a beer.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 60

Perhaps too many times... often when friends and I try get inspired this way, it seems we stay out all night, and never do any work... then the next day is shot too... so it is kinda a little backwards.

Seriously though... I don't actually use this method, and I don't actually like beer.

Usually when I have a design block (I just graduated from architecture school), I put headphones on, surround myself with images of similar things (immersion), and then I just sit and work, undistracted. Most of the time, something ends up fitting together... my mind just needs to focus.

Hope that this helps.

-Russ

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-Anybody we have not unplugged could potentially be an agent-

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

quote:

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Originally posted by RocketScientist
Perhaps too many times...

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I saw that coming.

I don't go out that much. Maybe once every other week. Maybe I should go out MORE...

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

Just started reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and it's a great book! It's all about getting out of the rut and getting the creative juices flowing.

Nuthin' like the rush of a great idea.

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It's gotta be weather balloons. It's always weather balloons. Big, fiery, exploding weather balloons.
-- ComaVN (from Slashdot)

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 443

man goes to his psychiatrist and says he's an alcoholic and his life is going nowhere. "you gotta help me doc, i'm lost. can you help me?"

"of course i can."

"you can?!"

"sure. but first, stop drinking."

thus endeth the lesson.

in other words, if you want to do something, start by doing, not trying to do. or, to quote david mamet, "your excuses are your own."

peace.

mc.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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I don't go out that much. Maybe once every other week.

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Get ideas from others. Take it from there. That's how I got the idea for an english paper of mine.

What's the hang-up?

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Structure your writing time. Pick a length of undistracted, uninterrupted time to write for each day without fail. If you find yourself flaking on the daily writing time, cut the time in half. Since inspiration's elusive, you can't necessarily control the quality of your work, but you can control the quantity of your work. When you reach the end of your writing time, stop, and do not continue, even if you're in mid-sentence. Don't write again until your next writing session. After doing this for a while, you'll from having more time in your writing sessions than ideas to having more ideas than time in your writing sessions.

Research your topic. Go directly to the source, not just predigested experience from books. Stock your mind with enough exlusive material, and it will reach a saturation point where your disparate facts will seem to organize themselves into a meaningful pattern.

Outline your material. Know your beginning, middle and end before you write a word of prose or dialogue. You'll know you have a clear narrative if you can explain your story to someone without having to explain your explanation.

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Eye of Gameboy

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
When you reach the end of your writing time, stop, and do not continue, even if you're in mid-sentence.

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hey gameboy!

i tried your idea (above) and you'll never guess, it

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Ever feel like the train left while you were busy reading the paper?

Stealth-Mod.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Hoser_back_home wrote:
i tried your idea (above) and you'll never guess, it

It works better if

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Eye of Gameboy

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: NJ
Posts: 517

Take a vacation!!! Go on vacation, but don't just sit around, think while you are there and try to do something creative. I think a new place (or just a change) helps you to "think different."

Vacations do wonders for me, now to put all those creative juices to work...

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