Monday, October 11, 2010

Stuck Like Chuck

What do you do when you get stuck on a scene?

This weekend I learned something about myself.  If I were a full time writer, my house would be immaculate.  Seriously.  It would seem my defense mechanism for being stuck on a scene is to clean something.

I spent most of the weekend at home, outside of grabbing some groceries and getting my haircut.  (The haircut was an experience from HELL.  Why must my hair stylist have moved away and left me?  I mean, I'd followed her from salon to salon for years.  *wails*  Okay, I'll stop now.)

I sat at home for hours on Saturday with the intention of writing my little heart out.  So naturally I spent hours updating my website instead.  lol  But it's new and improved and live now!  Go look at it and let me know what you think!  www.hddodson.com  I was trying to build a wordpress site and, yeah, I'm just not smart enough to do that.

Back on topic, Holly!

So, once I finished my website I wrote.  And then I pulled out all our winter clothes and boxed up Super Spawn's stuff that's too small for charity.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I did laundry.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I washed all the sheets.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I reorganized my desk.  Then I wrote some more.  Are you seeing a pattern here?

It went like that all day Sunday too!  I'd finish a scene, or get to a point in the scene where I wasn't sure how to move forward and I'd go clean something.  It always works though.  I always come back to the WIP with enough gusto to get me through another scene before I have to find something else to clean.

What do you do?  What's your stuck-scene coping mechanism?

7 comments:

Pam Harris said...

First of all, great website. :) Second of all, I wish cleaning could help me with my writing. Since I hate it so much, it just leaves me tired and in a bad mood so I don't feel like sitting in front of my laptop. If I'm really stuck in a scene, I usually dream about it. Weird right? But my dreams have gotten me out a lot of sticky situations--it gives me ideas I would've never thought of when I'm wide awake. :)

Holly Hill said...

I'm envious Pam, I wish I could dream of my stories. When I have dreams they're always wacky and never story related lol

Erinn said...

I do the same thing when I"m stuck. I become HIGHLY productive in my real life. But then I do one or two things. I either push through it, knowing what I"m writing will need to be revised or I skip it and leave it for FUTURE Erinn to fix.

Future Erinn HATES Past Erinn, she's such a pain in the ass.

Abby Stevens said...

Oh, I love the website! Did you create your header? I basically do the same thing, Holly. That, or work on something else creative, like drawing or painting.

LTM said...

sometimes I write through it, but then sometimes I do like you. Take a break, mull it over, brainstorm...

I wish I cleaned... maybe I should try that! LOL~ :o)

Holly Hill said...

Erinn- I could never skip it. Future Holly wouldn't be driven enough to go back and write the hard parts. lol

Abby- thank you, I did! And I wish I could draw. *sigh*

LTM- I clean when I get stressed out too. Can you imagine me home with a writing deadline to meet? Eventually I'd run out of things to clean and I'd be in a real pickle. lol

Claire Dawn said...

Lucky you. I can get distracted for days, months even.