Brain freeze!

[CharlotteAndrews]

Please help. I'm completely frozen.

I thought I'd be able to write more and really expand my portfolio now that school has started. However, I haven't submitted anything in weeks. Thank you to whoever it was who coined the phrase "submitphobia" a while back. After my last submission got rightfully rejected, I just froze up. I have sentencephobia. I can't write anything without backspacing every word to change every thought.

I'm so scared of being banned under the three strikes rule that it may become a self-fulling prophesy. I'm so scared of being kicked off C-C, but it won't matter if I don't submit again. I don't want to be one of those newbies who just fades away. I know this a great thing. I've really looked into the way the other sites work, and I have no interest in them. I like it here.

Okay, whining over. Thank you. Does anyone have any good tips that work for you to jump start yourself after you haven't written for a while?

[Debbi]

Just "lie back and think of England" i.e., just give yourself up to the process and stop trying to control it. Put your fingers on the keyboard, disconnect your brain, and write, write, write. Don't stop for anything. Once you've written at least 400 words, stop, save the file, and then write another piece without stopping. Put these away until the next day and then read them over. The point is to write without thinking, critiquing, or editing until later. Most of writing is re-writing after all. So just vomit up all your knowledge onto the page and then go back later and tidy.

[CharlotteAndrews]

Thank you Debbi. I needed a calming voice. Of course, you are absolutely right. I was an editor in a former (child-free) life and I know you have hit the nail on the head. Writing and editing are two very, very different jobs and should not be attempted at the same time. (My 11th grade English teacher would be horrified by the use of the word "very" even once, much less twice.)

I'm off to type away, having promised myself that I will write two articles and submit none today.

[CRDonovan]

[quote="Debbi"]Just "lie back and think of England" [/quote]

LOL!

Seriously, we all get completely blocked some times. Just make yourself sit down and give yourself a task. Debbi's suggestions are good. Write your way through a rough draft. No deleting, it's a draft! Then put it away. Go back to something and edit and fine tune. There's a section here where you can post bits of your work for comments and suggestions. Do that. Don't worry about submitting right away, just work. There's a million writing jobs to do without actually pressing the submit button. Do some research. Fact check. Read other articles, to see what kinds of things others are writing. But above all, put in that writing time. Glue yourself to the seat and work.

You'll know when it's time to hit the button and send it off. Meantime, just work.

[Sharion]

I love the phrase "vomit up all your knowledge." That's a good way to put it. Don't think in terms of a finished article today, figure out what your head is full of and dump it all out in rough draft. Don't look at it again until you know you've finished the full dump. You might find yourself with several different drafts on the same topic, or just a random set of drafts on a variety of topics.

The last time I was feeling the "brain freeze" I ended up posting a whole series of articles based on something I was working on with my own businesses. I realized that everything I was working on was fodder for an article.

My problem these days is the exact opposite. My head is FULL of articles, stories, blog posts, and books but at the moment my work week got shortened as I'm undergoing some weekly medical treatments. I've been chronicling the experience as the treatments are considered controversial and will eventually turn it into either a book or a series of articles. Haven't decided yet but as long as I maintain the diary, I'll have the raw material to later work with.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Yes, writing crap and making it gold is so MUCH easier these days. Move paragraphs around with a few clicks. Ctrl-R to change a term to a better keyword phrase.

Imagine if we were still in the typewriter age!

I've been reading a ton of Pride and Prejudice fan fiction lately, most set in the Regency period. No kidding was writing a letter an endeavor for an entire afternoon!

[CharlotteAndrews]

If I had to live with the results of my first pass on anything (not to mention my handwriting), I'd never write again!

[CharlotteAndrews]

Hi all,
Just wanted to say thank you again for the encouragement. It took another week, but I finally got back on the horse. I submitted two articles yesterday and one is accepted so far (other, longer one is still in review). It really means a lot to have this forum. It's nice to feel like I'm not alone in cyberspace!
Thanks!