Personal Update: Thomas, Revisited

About a month and a half into summer vacation, I still have not published much on this blog. I ask myself why: is it a bad case of writer’s block, or have I lost interest? At first I wondered whether I was just waiting until after I got my license to start anything serious, but even after attaining it after endangering the lives of me and my examiner, here I am writing this post.

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It’s Not Coming Out…

No, you sickos, not that. The words!

Don’t get me wrong, I love to write. It’s my passion. I admit, however, that it can be a daunting and painful task at times. All because of writer’s block.

There are two methods I utilize when my writing spirit becomes withered by such an affliction. The first method is to remove myself completely from the project at hand – reading books, going out for a run, playing tennis, hanging out with friends, etc. When that doesn’t work, I force myself to write. This usually results in hours of staring at the computer screen until my mind conjures a neat little sentence. Which I proceed to erase a few minutes later, after realizing I forgot something important. Like a subject.

But the combination of those two actions eventually creates a completed assignment – maybe not a perfect piece, but good enough that I can come back to it and edit the errors later. At this moment, that isn’t the case.

I am struggling to write an article for my school’s newspaper, and it’s due tomorrow. The problem is an anomaly – I know what I’m writing about, I have quotes, and I’ve done my research. I just can’t get the words out. Plain and simple. Journalistic writing has never been my forte, but in the past I’ve managed to at least scrounge up a half-decent story. This time, I’m not so sure what will happen.

Have you ever dealt with writer’s block? What did you do to make it go away?

A Potpourri of Unplanned Thoughts

Hi. COUGH. Welcome. COUGH. To my. COUGH. Blog. *breathes*

^That’s how I’ve been talking as of late. It’s very irritating. I feel like I’m choking every time I try to communicate to someone. Honestly, it’s rather hypocritical of me because every time someone else is sick I think ‘okay, I’m going to stay a few steps away from you…’ but when I myself am sick I think ‘please… I’m dying… don’t leave me’… anyway.

I am serious about the cough though. I do not know what caused it – either the sickness I fought to overcome earlier this week, or the fact that I’ve been playing tennis outside in the cold two hours every day for the past few days.

On another note, I have to submit a short story due next Friday for a Writer’s Conference. Here is how much I have done…

In case you're wondering, it says 'Hi! I'm nothing!'

Here is how much I wish I had done…

My piece for last year's writer's conference.

I detest writer’s block. I find it more difficult to craft a well-written short story than a well-written novel, because with a short story you have a minute amount of space to develop characters or create a memorable setting, as opposed to the novel where pages can be dedicated to those aspects.

As strange as this may sound, SHINee‘s song REPLAY has been supplying me with slight inspiration. I feel a distinct emotion when I listen to the song, and I want to center my story around that. Maybe I’ll post it when I’m done…

Friday nights are the best.