Published August 13, 2011
You sit at the computer. Your eyes travel along the keyboard, sizing up the letters, as if expecting a word to hit you in the face – the start to a story, a reason for why you’re sitting there. Music pumps from the headphones hanging around your neck. You’re on a schedule; in twenty minutes you have to be somewhere. Still, you keep sitting there, staring at the screen, thinking wistfully that if inspiration could come to you for just five minutes, you’d never ask anyone for anything again. You bargain with God. You make promises to random spirits. You blink a couple of times.
And in aid of what?
Is it fame you want? Is it the money you crave – or the attention? Do you want people to notice you, your talent? Or is this question wasted on you? Do you need an escape from something?
Someone comes into the room; it angers you. You blink away the tears that threaten to fall and hold your head in your hand. In that split moment, you feel weak, empty – like you’ve got nothing left to give. You wonder why you’re sitting there, staring at a blank screen when it’s been months since you’ve been able to write, been able to put words on a page to form a coherent sentence. An ache settles in the middle of your stomach.
You have this physical need to write something. You want so badly,to put the picture behind your eyes onto paper so other people can see it the way you do. That ache grows and grows. It makes you sick. Imagination wants to burst out of you but you lack inspiration. You have nothing to keep you grounded to the story.
Ten minutes have passed. You should leave. You stay seated.
‘Why don’t you write anymore?’ people ask you and your answer is always the same: ‘I just can’t find the time.’ But you can’t write, can you? And then you have this little voice in your head that’s always there – taunting you. You make a promise you yourself; you will write. You just haven’t decided what.
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137,712 Literary Works • 672,063 Reviews
this was fantastic! i get writer's block a ton so i can really relate to this. i don't really know how to explain this, but you, like, explained this "disease" very well, like how the person feels when they get writers block. you know what i mean?
I've got to say I've never had that problem with writer's block so I was curious with your story because of the title. I had a couple of situations in which I took a little longer but generally I tend to write in a one-way course.
For a person like me it seemed that it didn't lack anything and whole text was really fluent. I loved the way you just talk not worrying with building a story or progressing so it really stands out as a still description of feelings. Following the same line I read it like a poem, as it seems more like a free-verse one than a free-writing prose.
If you liked writing this one and would like to continue, I recommend you trying to add dynamic to the text. I'm not talking about the fluency but the dynamic of the feelings. Assuming this your first attempt on this type of text, it's good as it is. I'm just saying you could add more movement. Instead of being still, try wondering around as the things you think of change depending of the movement you make.
I think this is a good start line. What would have happened if you had left?
I just hope that you appreciate my point of view the same way I appreciated yours.
TheGatherer
Writers block is something every writer can relate to and I especially love the way you had written every word to describe how hard it is to write even a single word to a beginning of a story.
It seems to me that I'm not the only one suffering through writers block.
Keep up the good work and NEVER give up.
I just had to tell you how much I identified with this line. Good job. This is writers block to the extreme, and yes, it's incredibly frustrating. I think you captured it quite well.
I usually say keep writing here. I hope you don't get any more writer's block so you can!
Wow! I really liked this piece of work.
It explains writers block very well.
I've experienced this very feeling abunch of times...
Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I've changed a couple of things around, so hopefully they sit better than before. I'm actually really excited, as 10 is the hightest amount of stars I've ever gotten for a piece of work. For that, I thank you.
To answer paintingtherain, the reason I put this in short stories was because it wasn't actually meant to be about writers block. It was the beginning of a story originally but seemed to fit perfectly with the idea of writers block. I just didn't know where to put it xD
This is great. It really describes how it feels when you have writers block, like a story is building up inside of you, but it can't seem to find its way out. I especially liked the way you talked about bargaining with God and spirits, just because it's barely an exaggeration. I don't really understand why you put this in short stories, since it was pretty much nonfiction, but good work. I like it when people write about writer's block. It's sort of ironic if you think about it.
Hey! This piece was exactly how I was feeling right before I read it. Thank you for putting into words something that I can't. That ache that you write about is so familiar. Overall, I thought it was very well-written. There were some phrases here and there that didn't quite fit in with the rest, but I think the others have pointed those out. I just really wanted to let you know how much I related to your piece. Thank you!
I like how this explains what many writers will confront some time in their life. it happened to me alot, how I will stare at the computer screenw ith my finger son the keyboard, but type nothing for a while.
For some reason, the word 'Eyeing' sounds like a bad word to use in some type of story. I would ecomend finding a new word to replace that.
I would not start a sentence with the word 'But'. My teacher got onto the students for starting a sentence with that, also And. So you could reword that sentence, with a better first word.
Those were just a few things that buged me, but overall it was very nice. c:
Hello!
I almost don’t want to review this because I really liked it—and, yes, I connected with it as well. Aiee. However, reading something and not picking something out of it makes little pieces of my soul wither and fall away. It’s a terrible burden.
Someone else mentioned the icky repetition of “eyes” here.
If you read this out loud, the bolded part doesn’t seem to fit terribly well with the bit that comes before. Reword?
You know, technically, it’s bad grammar to start a sentence with “but”. Or “and” or “because”.
You don’t need that comma.
I think this might run better if you took out the “or”.
This runs a bit awkwardly. Something like, Do you just need an escape from everything? might work better.
This is a bit unclear. It sounds like the person comes into the room and does something that annoying, and I think it would be more effective if it was just the person’s entrance that was annoying.
Take out the bolded commas so it flows better.
If you make this “Imagination wants to burst out of you, but the problem is that you have no inspiration” I think it’ll sound stronger.
I THINK that should be a fully-blown colon and not a semi-colon. However, colons do confuse me, so you might want to check on that. I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be a semi-colon, though.
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As I said, I did really like this, but I had to think of the pieces of my soul. Sorry. PM or Wall me if you have any questions!
~Flounder
Hi there!
This is a great piece! I really enjoyed it. You did a great job with displaying the emotions one feels when they have writers block. I feel the same exact way when this happens. I can definitely relate to this piece.
Great job! Keep writing!
Hey, This is quite amazing!
I think almost any writer can relate to this and it makes it very personal to read. The words and questions seems to be directed at the reader, in this case me, and it felt real to read this.
Good job! I didn't find any grammatic error and I like the way ypu built this piece so just.. Nice job!
You get 4/5 icky sticky spiders!
Good Luck & Keep Writing
// Demoness
This was really good! The only nitpick I had was this:
I don't like the repition of the word 'eye' in this sentence. Maybe you could write 'staring at the letters' or 'sizing up the letters' instead?
Anyway, that's all the critic I have for you. This was very well-written, and I could relate to it! You transferred all the thoughts and feelings I've had about writers block onto paper. Great job!
I'm sure just about any writer can connect with this piece, for sure.
Overall, it was generally well done and entertaining to read, as well as incredibly familiar. I mean, you've captured the problems of writer's block well. Your descriptions were nice, particularly in the first paragraph, and you really don't have too much to improve on.
Very nice line, there. That has to be my favorite part of your work, though I can't say for certain why. Maybe it's because I've done that. The blinking, at the very least!
Without "it" or "and," the sentence is kind of odd and doesn't work well. So, take your pick. It or and?
I like the sentences before and after this, but honestly this one phrase sounds incredibly whiny to me. Maybe try to make it a little more serious, or mature. "You want to punch the owner of that little voice" just seems immature and whiny, so... I'd suggest revising the sentence.
Again, well done!