Stress does not induce the imagination

As you've guessed by the title, I've been tying myself up in knots recently about the lack of words on my pages.

I have plenty of ideas. They come like waves...little snippets of information that either hit the shore and die, or build to a crescendo which quickly root themselves as solid ideas and real characters who have wonderful stories. The problem is, that's where they stop. I'm not getting the stories from my head onto the page.

I had a lightbulb moment just this week, though, when I was trolling Facebook...Deborah Riley-Magnus posed a question on her page about writing...

Is your writing production cyclical? Do you write more at a certain time of the day or week or year? Are the patterns clear, or are the cycles random? My writing seems to cycle twice a year from inspiration to finish.

All my teachings have been that to be a writer you must write and it's like a muscle, you have to exercise it...and that's what I believed. Having said that, I now have five books published, so I know, in that context, I am a writer. I can acknowledge that. I'm not saying I'm a good writer, but for all intents and purposes, I can claim I'm a writer. I write, therefore I am.

Having someone else say that they write cyclically, made me think about how I write. To know you're not alone - that you're not the only one, makes it seem much more acceptable - and less of a problem.

I suddenly relaxed about what I thought was a problem.

Low and behold, the moment I relaxed about it all - the ideas began to flow more freely...so I'm not going to worry about getting them down on paper just yet...I'm happy to let them stew.

As long as they keep coming, I'm happy!

Be Happy!

Happy people are more productive...