Take this recent situation for example:
The diagnostic "What is Poetry?" essay was the first essay of the year for this class. It was meant to show our professor where our writing ability stands at the moment. But during the writing process I, too, learned where my writing ability is at the moment; I believe it's drifting along somewhere in outer space perhaps, because I couldn't express my argument for the life of me.
I went through my pre-writing process, brainstorming, outlining, and even a bit of research about poetry in general. But when it came time to write, two or three sentences into it, my mind went blank. I had no idea what poetry meant to me, or what it was, let alone how to write a 2-3 page essay on it.
And so I sat, staring at the vast blankness of my computer screen in utter despair, I was beyond perplexed. 5 minutes later maybe, and I created a few more sentences, still with no idea of the direction in which my paper was going. Following the passage of a few more of these 5-minute cycles, sleep began to set in.
I fell into an almost hypnotic state of mind, and oddly enough, the words came to my mind, the sentences began to form, and my essay began to come together. And why didn't happen earlier?
So I got to thinking...
I once heard someone (I honestly don't know who), a seemingly very intelligent man say something like:
I don't understand how a writer can get Writer's Block... My problem is usually having too much to say.And reflecting back on this made it very clear to me what my problem is. I THINK TOO MUCH. That's the best explanation i could come up with. I spend so much time thinking about how to put my sentences together and what to put in them, and I don't spend enough time just actually writing.
Well, that's my own personal theory, I could be wrong. Or maybe I had it right in the beginning, and I am just a terrible writer. Who knows? Looking back on what I just finished writing, I still need a lot of work, whether I'm a bad writer or not. I say that because, truthfully, I spent quite a bit of time coming up with this blog. I spent about an hour on it. I think I should continue to time myself on writing these, it might help... TOO MUCH THINKING!!
3 comments:
Perhaps it's neither insufficient thinking nor too much thinking, but rather unfocused, misdirected, or otherwise unproductive thinking?
Personally, I feel like I face a similar situation like you. I have a big issue with writing. English is not my first language, and I have a hard time getting used to that fact. However, my problem goes one-step beyond. I usually have an idea about what to write, and I actually do come up with ideas that I think are good.
So when I sit in front of the computer to type something, I like type one line before I realize that I have no clue what I am typing. Sometimes though, I listen to music when I write something because that keeps me focused enough to write. So you should try that too to see if that helps.
I actually have the same problem you do. Every time I sit in front of the computer screen my mind just blanks out. My friend once told me that if you start your essay on the computer you'll never get it done so she always tells me to actually write the essay on paper and then type it up. Sometimes this helps me because I become more focused on my task. Maybe you can try this and see how it goes.
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