Pray for me

This sucks. Ever since I got back from Infantry Basic/AIT at Ft. Benning, I’ve had writer’s block up the yin-yang. Too much stuff (National Guard, women, ROTC, women, whiskey, etc) is confusing the brain. Any suggestions to perhaps clear my head?

Try reading inspirational work. I recommend:

Writing down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
On Writing, Stephen King
The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron (this is a bit of a grey zone, you either love it or hate it. There’s a lot of New Age stuff in it.)

Otherwise, take long walks, try to clear your brain.

Set a time, ten, twenty, thirty or so minutes, and just write. The only rule is to keep your hand moving. This is only to get something down on the paper. Doing this once or twice a day often works to get everything else out of your head so that you can focus on what you really want to write. At my writer’s course we use the phrase “In this kitchen” by tradition if we’re having trouble. Start the notes with “In this kitchen” and just write anything that comes to mind after that. If you feel that you’re starting to loose the speed or concentration, just write “In this kitchen” again to get going.

Oddly enough, the inspiration I have right now is a story involving my friends from college/ROTC, but that’s nowhere near the type of stories here. It’s all a matter of what I can think of when I relax, so a fic idea may come to me soon…but I’ll have to be patient for some type of good plot in my head.

Well, if inspiration tells you to write something then follow it, don’t try to force yourself into writing something you don’t feel up to. If you feel like writing something about your friends, then do. You can’t get it posted in the archive, but you can always post it here for comments, or at fictionpress. :slight_smile:

Coolness…believe me though, my college life is already so stressful I’ve come back to embracing writing so I’m not outta the game yet.