Pressure Pushing Down on Me = Writers Block

Pressure. We all think we can handle and sometimes we, stupidly, ask for pressure situations. Why? Because we think we thrive in pressure situations. Sometimes we do, that's true. Some people are even better under pressure than others. In fact, sometimes I think I am pretty good under pressure.

BUT, pressure really is no fun. Have any of you seen Brian Regan's stand up? A) He is hilarious. Go look him up. (But please wait until after you have read this blog, left fantastic comments, and then shared it with all you friends.) B) He has a great bit about pressure and how if a doctor tells you that you are about to feel pressure, Buckle Up! Pressure means pain. The exertion of force upon a surface by object. Pressure, well, pressure stinks. And it stinks even more when we put it on ourselves.

That is what happened with me and this book I am writing. You see, what happened was I started to write a book. And it was flowing. Like a river. Or rolling like a river. However you want the analogy to go. Then I started this blog as a way to get people interested in the novel (see: Promote or Pimp) and write down my ideas of the process. All of the sudden I couldn't write a single sentence in the book. Seriously, all my thoughts just dried up. Like a river. During a drought. (Rivers are good for analogies.) And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

Well, I figured it out a few days ago. By starting this blog, I let people know that I am writing a book. By letting people know that I was writing a book, I put pressure on myself to write the book. At least in my mind that is what happened, and because of that my ideas were gone. Frustrating. I had exerted force upon myself and it caused me writer's block. And writers block, when you are trying to write anything, is the very definition of pain. Good job, Sam!

But once I figured this out, once I came the realization that I had put the pressure on myself, the pressure went floating down the river. (See what I did there? Rivers analogies are the way of the future. Get on board and take a trip down the river with me. Too much? I'll stop.) Over the past few days I have been able to add a lot to the novel and it is starting to take some shape.

Pressure isn't all the bad. In fact, if we work with that pressure, that force that is being exerted on us, we can often mold ourselves into what we want to be and become what we are trying to become.

Alright. You've made it the end of this post. Now I have a question for all you readers out there. My next post will be about the process that I am going to through to create the protagonist in the novel. I want to know your thoughts on what you are looking for in a protagonist. What do you think are important qualities and how do you think they should act? Anything really. I want to know what matters to the reader. I know what matters to me and I will share that next time.

Thanks for reading.