13/04/2010 - ??????

I'm not dead honest!!!!!!

It's been a while since I wrote anything on the blog and some of you out there actually thought I was dead well I aint I have just been busy for the last month. Busy???? You may ask or may not haha well yeah I know I am a guy that doesn't usually have much going on but I have recently met a girl, fell in love and moved in all in the space of some, some months.

I have also been attempting to piece together a possible podcast I am interested in producing on a bi-monthly basis which would feature regular interviews with people working or attempting to find work in the entertainment industry. I have put feelers out to possible interviewees and have had good feed back I just have to find the time to sit down and actually talk for 40 minutes about whatever springs to mind each fortnight.

I am also prepping a return to writing about the inhabitants of my fictional town Orchid Grove as I feel burned out as of late writing in the screenplay format so I'm taking a step sideways and writing a collection of short stories for the time being to get my creative juices flowing once again and the return to a favourite universe for me is the best way I could think to do so.

I'm also open to Ideas about what content should be included in the podcast so feel free to contribute with any ideas people I like to get feedback and opinions from you guys and gals out there so either by comment on here or by email you can reach me. Well that's enough for this post I'll be back sooner next time I hope (fingers crossed) until then...

Thanking you
The Housebound Writer

Lazy Housebound Writer Part ??????

Yep I've had reasons to be behind on my writing recently some bad some very, very good we'll take a look at the bad here it's less complicated, haha. As I stated in my previous post my email and facebook profile were hacked and I went through a lengthy time consuming and in the end rather pointless procedure to attempt to regain control of them as the hacker lost interest fairly sharpish, thankfully (fingers crossed) and hasn't attempted anything untoward as it pertains to  me or a certain other person that was getting a lot of unneeded unfair treatment flung her way for a good 4 or 5 days now. If anyone else is still being inundated with messages or emails from the hacker please let me know so I can try to help anyway I can.

I have recently finished a short 10 minute film script entitled "Get Well Soon" which I had in my head for a couple of weeks and the first draft took me maybe an hour or so to write which just goes to prove procrastination can actually speed things along from time to time. I'll post up a PDF of the script as soon as possible as I'm currently waiting on for a host site to get back to me about hosting it. I'll also be taking up the challenge from my friend Tim from over at http://thetimbi.blogspot.com/ which if you've never paid that blog a visit you really should it is a truly great blog, well, well worth a visit and a follow.

For those who put your names on that sponsor form for the charity donation if I can go till the 8th of August without cutting my hair well it's 2 months in folks and I am still looking like a very bad reject from the 80s and I'm not really intending to cut my hair before I cross the finish line in August no matter how much I want to cos the cause itself that the money is being raised for means more to me that me looking like a complete idiot for a few months so get your wallets and purses ready for that day in a few weeks time haha. I also want an opinion here is this not the most random picture to send someone?

just what am I supposed to be looking at here? You know who you are that sent it what gives, you nut? A back garden in Plains, Scotland mmhh interesting, haha, this is up there with that picture of a tiny dent in your tinier car you sent like three weeks ago what is with the random nature of the pictures? Hahaha. Anyhoo I'll leave it there for now.

Thanking you
The Housebound Writer

Writing by the Housebound Writer

It struck me the other day that I haven't placed much in the way of writing samples on the blog for a while so I decided to place this opening paragraph from a story I'm working on up here. It's probably a strange sample to post but I am working on it right now so I felt it was somewhat relevant. I'm currently researching and developing the idea for television and am just exploring the character and concept a little by writing it in this form before I get down to the nitty gritty of writing the pilot episode. I have become extremely interested of late in the possibilities that the small screen opens up to a writer. You get to really delve into characters in more exciting ways and in much more depth than a 2 hour movie could ever allow. Anyhoo if you are new to this blog don't expect greatness off the bat I am a mediocre writer at best this is just a small snippet of what is to come as I am still researching all the ins and outs and haven't settled on certain aspects yet.

Burden- The Princess and The Frog

Is a cup ever truly half empty or half full or is it just a fine line between happiness and desolation? Is the future written in stone or is it just written on the sand with the tide rushing in? At first the darkness would only occupy Connor Song’s soul for the briefest of time after he entered its world to find the truth but of late the darkness had eclipsed the light and his escape window had been trickier to locate once on the inside but alas his burden wouldn’t allow him to hide from destiny and destiny was calling him ever so loud and ever so very clear. It had been four days since little Rosie Miller vanished while walking home from primary school. She had made that very trip home many times before always accompanied by her best friend Talia Walker and Talia’s sweet natured and soft spoken grandmother but on that fated day Rosie made the short trip home alone and home escaped her but she didn’t escape her captor for that Connor was sure and now her pink princess bedroom is haunted by the vulgar silence where once child’s laughter danced merrily. Connor watched as the sun danced through the tree branches overhead as the taxi he occupied travelled along the picturesque suburban street on that early autumn day. A leaf flirted with the wind and finally made its descent to the pavement below to rest alongside its family. Connor lost in thought seemed lost in another world entirely to the bemused taxi driver as he turned to gather his well-deserved fare from the C list celebrity seated behind him. Connor without being prompted or told of the price for his journey handed a bundle of folded notes over to his bewildered driver and gave him that nod that all taxi drivers hope for the nod that says keep the change.

Anyhoo

Thanking you

The Housebound Writer

Holiday Countdown

I'm heading for sunnier climes on Monday as I'm heading to Majorca for 10 days with my Brother and my Dad for some relaxation and drinking and sightseeing and drinking and well you get the picture. So If you don't hear from me for a while don't worry I aint dead more likely slightly drunk and/or sightseeing. My family have had a holiday apartment on the island for 26 years maybe more so we’ve been a lot but we like the culture the people are friendly and the food is great and the weather is definitely an improvement on the weather back home here in rain soaked Scotland but saying that I wouldn’t live anywhere else I love my Country to much to leave it I wouldn’t leave even for a Hollywood career and that is the God’s honest truth.


In other news my sitcom pilot script has entered the usual re-write phase which means I’m both excited and incredibly irritated by it at the same time. Annoyingly this should be the fun part of writing as the shape is there and it’s just about trimming the fat off but by the re-write stage my brain has always already moved on to getting excited about some other project it wants me to undertake and it always tricks me by making it seem so much more appealing haha well this time I am not going to let myself get distracted I owe it to myself to stay focused as I think this may be my best script in years at least the most commercially friendly script i.e. the one most likely to sell as I don’t think my dream A and D trilogy will ever make it to the silver screen and for the people in the know who have read any of those scripts they will know why haha very, very curse heavy and very, very Scottish in humour.

Some people would argue my best script ever may have been my take on the video game Resident Evil a lot of people I showed that script to really seemed to flip out over it and stated it would have made for a better film than what was made but maybe my best script is my other TV venture called Bureau that is truly all kidding aside my dream project and the one thing I have written I would do almost anything to get put on screen. I had logos, mouse mats, cups, posters and all sorts of merchandise made up for this project as I was writing it I even considered having some models made for it as I truly believe this is a project with “hit” written all over it that is of course my opinion but I have so much passion for this project it is evident on each and every page there are so many subtle nuances and character traits sprinkled throughout even characters that appear for a brief scene have extensive backstories written for them even the characters that would be played by extras I really went that anal about the whole thing haha.

Anyhoo as I was saying before I began to ramble on about whatever I was rambling about I will be away for a week and a bit so there won’t be any posts unless I manage to put together some trailer posts to be posted up on certain days when I’m away which is something I would like to do but I don’t know if I will have the time to do so.

Thanking You

The Housebound Writer

So Far So????

I have managed to complete the first draft of the sitcom pilot script I was working on and it's running long (49 pages) so a lot of editing and reworking scenes lies ahead of me. Here is one of the scenes that may be heading for the circular file, it won't be in proper format here but I think it's still readable.

Scene from “Never Meet Your Friends”


Int. Kitchen- day

Lauren is making some kind of health drink concoction in the blender as Drew enters and takes a beer from the fridge.

                                        LAUREN

                      Wait before you get your midday buzz on I want you to try this.



                                     DREW

                     What is it?



                                  LAUREN

                   Something a lot better for you than that.

Lauren points towards the beer bottle in Drew’s Hand, Drew places the beer down on the kitchen worktop. When the blender stops droning Lauren pours the hideous looking lumpy concoction into a tall glass and hands it Drew. Drew takes a look at his fate awaiting him and takes a gulp of air into his throat.

                                 DREW

                 Bottoms up, as the priest said to the quire boy.

Drew takes a large sip and as the liquid touches the back of his throat he spits it back out all over the kitchen work top.

                               DREW
               Whoa college flashback.

                             LAUREN
              You telling me you were on a health kick in college?

                             DREW
              No I just remembered the day I woke up and found a dog peeing in my mouth, what the hell is      in this?

Lauren begins to wipe the worktop clean.

                          LAUREN
             Just the usual stuff, wheatgrass, honey, beetroot and apparently dog pee.

Drew takes a long swig of his beer to clean out his mouth.

                          DREW
            Ahhh, that’s better so you and this Charlie guy?

                        LAUREN
          What about me and Charlie?

                        DREW
          Nothing, nothing it just seems to be progressing a bit quickly is all.

                       LAUREN
          And you are the expert on dating all of a sudden?

                        DREW
         Look I know when it comes to being smooth and slick Charlie is the king of romance and I’m the court jester.

                     LAUREN
        Well you have had a lot of experience juggling your balls.

                    DREW
        Very funny, don’t you think he’s a little too smooth?

                 LAUREN
        Nope.

                 DREW
       Look I know how men think I am a man…

                 LAUREN
      The jury is out on that one.

                 DREW
      Any guy that smooth is only telling you what you want to hear to get what he wants, know where I’m going with this?

                LAUREN
     Oh I don’t know it’s ever so cryptic.

               DREW
   He wants you to give his dog a bone and by dog I mean him and by bone I mean..

              LAUREN
   I know what you mean.

                DREW
   Penis.

Lauren places her hand to her shaking head.

               DREW(CONT'D)
   You need someone who will tell it to you straight no smooth bs crap.

              LAUREN
   What someone like you?

They share an awkward moment of silence.

                 DREW
     What about Rory?

                LAUREN
    What about Rory?

               DREW
    Is this the kind of male role model you want in his life?

              LAUREN
     At least it would be a male role model in his life his own father doesn’t care about him and you

              DREW
     What about me?

              LAUREN
      In the 2 weeks we’ve lived here he’s learnt more curse words than in the rest of his life so far and the jokes!
                DREW
          (Defensive)
     What Jokes?

               LAUREN
      The squirrel joke?

                DREW
     Squirrel joke? Don’t know it.

               LAUREN
      Why do squirrels swim on their backs? So they don’t get their nuts wet.

 Drew tries to hide a proud smile.

             LAUREN (CONT'D)
      That isn’t funny.

           DREW
        It is a little.

         LAUREN
      Not when he tells his teacher it in class. Drew, he’s only 9 years old you can’t get drunk and hang out with him playing xbox all day.

            DREW
        Look I never said I was perfect, I am who I am and if you don’t like that then

           LAUREN
   We should leave, that’s what we’ll do.

Lauren storms out.

         DREW
   Lauren wait, ah fu..ddlesticks.

End scene.

The fu..ddlesticks bit at the end is in reference to an earlier moment where Drew is attempting to not swear in front of Rory (Lauren's 9 year old son). Anyhoo this is a scene I'm not to happy with as I feel it's too long even though it does set up a later scene which I really like so it's hard to know what to do I may end up just reworking it down in length or coming into the scene from a different angle.

Thanking you
The Housebound Writer

What? Where? Who? Oh I forgot....

Spent the last ten days outlining a spec sitcom script I'm considering writing with annoying results. Firstly, I have a lot of ideas for plots, character traits, dialogue and so on but the closer it comes to sitting down to actually write the script itself the less I can muster the damn energy to be bothered to actually write it. Secondly, my brain seems determined to start spit balling ideas for another project that is completely different to anything I've ever written before but at the same time interesting enough to keep my wandering attention focused on it instead of on the sitcom script. I'm starting to think I'm loosing my interest in the writing process entirely at this point as I've not really written anything I'd consider of any worth for many a month with the exception of maybe a script I co authored in January.

In other news I have had to buy myself a cane from an online store recently as I can now not move around the house without hugging the walls or gripping the furniture so leaving the house has been not possible and will remain that way till the cane is delivered by the royal mail service and we all know how reliable they are. Why buy a cane you live in the UK can't you get one on the NHS? You may be asking well as I'm tall those extending walking sticks the NHS hands out are actually to small so I would end up getting a crutch or something like that. Getting measured for a cane definitely feels about two steps away from getting measured for a coffin especially when you factor in I'm only 28 years old (29 in May) and already walking like a pensioner with a bad hip and to think people wonder why I have such a pessimistic outlook on life, I wonder why?

Movie Trailer
Here's the trailer for Paul a film that is definitely on my must watch list for 2011, I'm a big fan of both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and going by the trailers it appears to be another hugely funny collaboration between the pair.

Thanking you

The Housebound Writer

A Writer's Point Of View

I thought it would be interesting to get different screenwriters' perspectives on the art and craft of screenwriting and when I found these clips online I thought it would be a good idea to share them here with all (few) of you. I hope you find them as enlightening as I did.

First up Christopher Vogler the author of the international best selling book The Writer's Journey.

Next is Joe Eszterhas the screenwriter of Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Flashdance and the author of the acclaimed book The Devil's Guide To Hollywood. He talks about his extensive research for various writing assignments.

And finally Randall Jahnson who has been writing for over 25 years in Hollywood and written screenplay drafts for The Mask Of Zorro (credited as story by)  The Doors, Gun (video game) and Sunset Strip.

Thanking you
The Housebound Writer  

The Writeaholic's Drabble Challenge

Yep another seven days between blog posts and you guessed it for health reasons again this time I had a mixed bag of symptoms including my stomach ulcers playing up leaving me spending the last week vomiting up my stomach acid which is as gross as it sounds folks, lol and some kind of virus or what not leaving me with the headache to end all headaches and feeling lethargic. It's not improved as the week has progressed so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go to my GP even though I hate giving in to things like this and taking meds for it as God knows I take enough pills as it is but to get past it I'll probably need antibiotics.

Anyway that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it for why this blog post wasn't done and dusted by Wednesday at the latest and I can only humbly apologise for the lateness of this drabble challenge post as I realised earlier today the next drabble challenge has already been posted up at http://writeaholicblog.wordpress.com/ and to top that I'm not just late with the post I'm also five words over the limit for the hundred word challenge, yeah been one of those weeks. Here it is anyway hope it's OK as I really struggled to write something this short, attempt one was 305 words and I was beginning a new paragraph when I realised I may have overshot the limit a smidge.

CAREER
The big bang echoes in my ears as my 6:45am wake-up call buzzed progressively louder. I reached over and as my hand kissed the timepiece my eyes gained that much needed confidence to welcome in the early Monday morning sun. My mouth still harbouring unwanted, unfading memories of the days before as I rise from my safety net and seek the sanctuary of the toothbrush to exorcise my weekend demons. My coffee stained tie hangs crooked as I await the cattle call of the underground what wondrous forfeits we so welcome for the burden of a paycheck and the love of a career.

If you love great writing (what the hell you reading this for then?) you should definitely pay a visit to http://thewritaholicblog.wordpress.com/ you won't be disappointed and trust me the stories on there are a lot happier than mine have been of late I'm working through some stuff and this is my outlet for it so bear with me it will get more upbeat eventually, I think anyway.

Thanking you
The Housebound Writer

EDIT: The link appears not to be working for some reason but you can find a functional link in the smart links section of the sidebar.

Philosophy of writing

Recently I have gotten back in touch with a online friend of mine (Milo) from Germany that due to his college commitments had fallen off the radar over the last four months but hey I was off the radar for just short of two with a rather less creative reason. As per our usual the topic changed swiftly from the- how have you been my friend?/ What are you working on? Kind of questions to more philosophical ones about the craft of writing such as: Do you have to have first hand experiences of the subjects you write about to truly get to the emotional core of your characters and understand their situation? Does writing only about what you know expand the characters and create an authentic feel to your subject or just limit you as a writer and storyteller?

These are the kinds of things we will converse about for hours yet as a person I tend not to think about when writing. My stories all have some personal element even if my story was set on another planet I'd put something in their of myself, I guess I use it as my way of creating a bond with my characters and I've never really considered it to be a particularly bad thing but I guess it could be conceived that my writing has always got a slightly dark undercurrent running through it some may consider that to be my "voice" as a writer or others may realize it to be my glass is half empty outlook on life either way I'm probably stuck with it for the immediate future at least. In my opinion the old adage write what you know is good in principle if you know a lot more than me, lol, I write characters based in part on people I've met on/offline and tend to impart some of my life's tortures onto at least one of them in each story other than that I tend to let my imagination run free.

I don't think writing about your own life experiences is limiting for a writer's longevity as you will continue to experience them up until you breathe your last breath but I think taking creative risks and stepping out of your comfort zone regularly is vitally important to hone your craft as a writer even for a run of the mill hack like myself. Another question he brought up was has the loss of a definitive white hat and black hat divide within modern television and film creating the anti hero led to in part the influx of morally ambiguous youths? I know what your thinking what a time to give up drinking, lol, I was thinking the same thing. He likes to ask me questions that leave me scratching my head and thinking what are you smoking kid?

So for anyone in the dark on the white hat/ black hat reference it refers to the old myth that in the early western movies the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys always wore black. Personally again this is only my opinion not the gospel truth just one slightly daft Scottish guy's opinion here but I'd say the antihero isn't a new concept remotely and I think the same argument was raised in the late 70s early 80s during the boom of the video nasties (banned horror movies) that those horror films would lead kids to loose their morals and although undoubtedly some people can be effected by any violent content be it in film or a TV show for the most part I think it's not a valid argument. TV and Cinema shouldn't be responsible for teaching children morals that is the job of their legal guardian and their teachers at school unless of course we're talking about Sesame Street or any other show like that.

The anti hero is a character type that is popular because she/he is usually anti authority and who wouldn't want to talk trash to their boss and get away with it? I don't even work and I'd love to do that, lol. I think in general it's the fact that most people have a strong moral compass that leads to these characters being so widely appreciated as they get to do the stuff we would like to do but know to be wrong that is what makes them so darn interesting. Anyhoo I've babbled on long enough and can't actually remember what I was originally going to write in this post as all this was going to be paragraph one only, lol, oops.

Thanking you

The Housebound Writer

Hangover Blues

It's feels kind of strange sitting down to write this after such a long break from blogging, a break that was not planned but was probably much needed. I've been doing a lot of soul searching as of late and contemplating the future and for the first time in a long time not in a pessimistic fashion. It's been a long road to travel down over the last decade and for a brief moment there I was considering heading up the next off ramp but I guess the journey isn't over quite yet. I've dusted off an old script of mine recently and have begun the long rewrite process on it to get my eye back in as any writer will know all to well the worst thing you can do is take to long a break away from honing your craft.

A mind is a terrible think to waste they say and being someone who has had little outlet for creativity over the years mine is all but dust and faded words that no longer rhyme. I even stopped writing recently and am finding even that brief break from it has effected my writing style greatly. The last few short stories I've written have all headed in one direction head first straight through an unhappy ending. My attempted scripts of late have lacked my usual jokes in the 'action' for the reader's benefit but luckily for me I am slowly starting to change this unfortunate and unwanted trend. Don't get me wrong not every story should have a happy ending and depending on tone and subject matter not every screenplay should have in jokes for the reader but the subjects I tend to write about do, my work has been effected by my mental state at the time of writing I guess. I had even started to feel that writing was becoming like a chore for me to do and I've never felt that way before and hope I never will again.

A fellow writer friend of mine named John Cooper Smith, who I met online at a screenwriting forum, sold his first spec script to a small production house who specialise in making straight to DVD horror films and my first reaction instead of being happy for him was flat out jealousy, how wrong is that? His script is about a girl who finds out she was adopted as a baby and begins to search for her parents. Describing the rest would give the ending away so I'll just say it'll be gory for sure. The working title is "Family Dies" and should be released late next year, I'll try to get a link to the website for the film when it's up and running.

Anyway I can hear my wee niece getting in from school so no doubt she'll want her daft uncle to give her a hand with her homework. Thankfully she's only 5 so it's writing words like 'do', 'as' or 'cat' three or four times so nothing to difficult I dread the first time she gets the times tables to learn, lol, I know them all except for the 7 and 11 off by heart I guess I've had to many head knocks to remember them all.

Thanking you

The Housebound Writer

Lazy Housebound Writer

I've been incredibly lazy when it comes to my blog as of late there again four days between posts and this time it wasn't because of writer's block just a mixture of laziness and the thought that my last post was on Monday rather than Saturday.

I meant my next blog post to be the second of my French cinema reviews I had picked two films to watch "A Prophet" & "Mesrine part 1" to recap on them for the post but I never got around to actually watching them. I've posted movie news a lot more than normal recently which I never actually intended for my blog to be quite this movie heavy but a mixture of breaking news that interested me, some of which I have gotten praise online from other sites for being one of the first to break, and the fact that my health issues are seemingly improving (touch wood) I haven't really had much else to blog about.

I also considered posting a short story I had been working on entitled "False Shadow" but it ran to about 15,000 words and I have a 1, 000/1,500 word limit for my shorts that I post on here as most people wouldn't read a blog post any freaking longer than that, lol, and I couldn't bring myself to make 15 blog posts out of it as it isn't that kind of story. So what to post about, do I give in to the inevitable and write another movie news blog post and give my spin on it or something else?

Competition Time!!!!!!!!

I thought what I'd do was write the first couple of paragraphs of a short story and you guys write the conclusion and I'll pick the best one and post it on this blog along with a link to your blog if you have one, yeah you win nothing other than your story getting posted, lol, woohoo right?

Story:

It lacked that new car smell but even at the age of 25 this Mercedes Benz was a new car to Travis. It was the first car he had ever bought and although it may be showing it's age he felt like a million dollars sitting behind the wheel as he watched the coast zip past him as he got lead footed with the accelerator. "Damn it" he thought as he spotted the blue whirl in his rear view, he pulled his car into the nearest lay by and awaited his fated ticket for speeding.

He fished out his documents and awaited the inevitable rap of knuckles against glass and wasn't waiting long. Travis wound down his window and handed his driver's licence over to the awaiting outstreched hand of the officer. 'I know, I know I was speeding I just got a Little bit carried away with my new car.' Travis said in the faint hope that what his Mother always told him to be true, "Honesty is the best policy", but as the officer doesn't respond Travis questioned his own logic maybe keeping stum will serve him better this time.

The officer without warning leans into the Mercedes and retrieves the car keys before strolling back to his car it was at this moment that a sudden shiver stooped through Travis' body as he realised the car parked behind his own wasn't a police car. It was a dark coloured sedan with tinted windows, "Must be an unmarked but aren't there always two cops, where's his partner?" Travis felt a second shiver descend through his body as he realised this guy who now had his ID and car keys was not a cop so what was he?

So in conclusion you write as long or as short a conclusion to this setup as you like and create your own title. I'm interested to see how you guys run with it, will Travis peg it or survive? It's completely up to you guys. Here's the Email address to post your stories to: thehouseboundwriter@hotmail.co.uk good luck.

Thanking You

The Housebound Writer

Block Off

I just realised I haven't posted since Sunday, I actually though it was more recent than that. I've been distracted this week by a mixture of personal distractions and creative ones as well as the Mother of all Writer's block which has moved over from one particular troubled writing project to encompass all of them. Annoyingly this seems to include my blog also but I'm going to work through it by posting today on the subject of writer's block itself and hopefully by doing so it will free up my creative flow.

In 2004 writer and Neurologist Alice W Flaherty argued in her book The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block And The Creative Brain, that literary creativity is a function of specific areas of the brain, and that block may be the result of brain activity being disrupted in those areas. Sounds believable to me as someone who has suffered brain damage it would make sense that it would corrupt my creative process from time to time I just wish it wouldn't do it when I'm on a role with my latest story.


Reason For Writer's Block


1. Lack of Inspiration
2. Distracted by other tasks that need doing first
3. Poor planning
4. Depression
5. Physical Illness
6. Sense of failure both personally and professionally
7. Intimidated by a previous success
8. Stress
9. Boredom
10. Lack of energy




Cures For Writer's Block

1. Outline your story fully
it's amazing how many people don't outline I for one never outline unless I'm writing a script but it can be a valuable resource to come back to later in times of writer's block.


2. Remind yourself that the first draft doesn't need to be a work of art it is just a blueprint for the many that follow.

3. Switch off the phone put on some music to chill out to and relax your breathing take long deep breathes and close your eyes.


4. Stretch as many muscle groups as possible as a way to relieve your body of stress, sounds stupid but is recommended by a very reputable writer and psychologist.


5. Force yourself to write down your thoughts no matter how poorly worded, this is helpful to distinguish between a creative block and a block for another reason such as depression or self doubt.


6. Talk over your project with someone whose opinion you respect not a family member or someone who can't give you creative feedback someone who will tell you straight. This is often said to be the worse thing you can do but I have found this helpful in the past.


7. Break the writing into smaller steps
If it's a novel don't think of writing the whole 90,000+ words think of the first 500 it's a less scary proposition and we all know we got 500 words in us.


8. If it's boredom you are suffering from take time to do something else you enjoy and always remember to break your writing time down into manageable chunks of time to stop boredom creeping in.


9. Lack of energy is usually down to lack of sleep take a break relax and come back to your writing later when you feel refreshed as there is nothing worse than sitting staring at a blank screen and you can barely keep your eyes open.


10. Sometimes if you're working on an assignment and the subject is just not talking to you maybe what you need to do is look at it from a different angle and find something in the genre or subject matter that you can relate to and if the assignment allows go with that.

Anyhoo I'm back writing again so I guess this post has helped me and I hope something in here will help you guys.



Thanking You
The Housebound Writer