Tag Archive | writers block

The Words

The words, the words – they scream, begging for release, clamoring, vying for attention, pieces of poems and paragraphs of prose push and pile one upon the other until I hear nothing more than noise, until they become nothing more than sound without substance, until I’m forced to lock them away, somewhere so deep within I’m afraid they’ll be lost.

The words, the words – my constant companions, my friends, my sometime foes. Tonight, there are too many, so many I cannot pluck them out and pen them to a page so I doodle and scribble my angst. I write random words and scratch them out. My frustration fills the page.

Perhaps tomorrow they will settle, tomorrow they will whisper. Maybe then I will breathe again.

My Favorite Fun New App – WordPallette

Nov25

I love words. I hope that much about me is obvious. I love to learn new words. I love to play Scrabble, I love to complete word searches – pretty much anything that has to do with words, I love it. Except crosswords, I hate some of those ridiculously abstruse clues, and though I adore most all other wordy things, I’ve never tried magnetic poetry. Mostly because the idea of standing in front of the fridge peeling off and moving around magnets just doesn’t sound all that appealing to me, but the concept does.

Anyway, I was getting ready to do some laundry the other day, so naturally, I started browsing through the app store on my iPad. I’m always looking for fun, free writing apps to play around with. I noticed WordPalette right away. It looked pretty cool, loved the color scheme, and it was free. So I made it mine.

I have to say, I’m a little bit in love with it. Since I’ve never actually purchased a magnetic poetry kit I can only assume this is somewhat similar in that you have words to choose from and you create something wonderful with them.

The bottom rows of words can be swiped left and right, you just click and it appears at the top of the screen. You can switch to the keyboard if you want to make any changes, From the word choice screen, you can delete and add commas and periods. I started clicking away at words and in just a few minutes I had something that was actually kind of cool.

Once I clicked on that first word, I just kept clicking whatever seemed to fit with it. Switched to the keyboard, capitalized what needed to be capitalized (it doesn’t do that automatically after a period) and tweaked a couple of words, like changing consumed to consuming.

Seems to me this could be a great way to get the creative juices flowing, beat a bout of writer’s block, or just write something you would likely never think to write on your own. I added a screen shot of my first few minutes playing with WordPalette.

If you have it, or get it, which I totally recommend (I’m not getting anything for saying so), I’d love to read what becomes of your words!

Chiseling Stone With a Feather – Fickle Words

Jan28

You know that terribly annoying feeling when you feel a sneeze coming on and you’re ready for it – all prepared for the coming facial explosion that will remedy the tickling in your schnoz, but it never comes? That is how I feel right now as I sit and wait for the words I can feel within me to burst forth upon the page. They’re tickling the corners of my mind, but they simply won’t come.

I’ve sat with pen in hand, blank page before me beckoning me to fill it, I’ve stared at a blinking cursor on a brightly lit screen for longer than I care to admit, pleading with my muse, who has quite obviously forsaken me, to breath even the smallest breath of inspiration my way.

Nothing.

I’m near to bursting with the need for release, and yet, I’m for lack of a better word at the moment, blocked.

I’ve come upon a seemingly impenetrable barrier, perhaps of my own design, and it seems the more I try to chip away at it, the stronger it becomes. I don’t recall building this wall, but it has all the hallmarks of my own handiwork. I’ve built similar walls brick by infuriating brick and used my self-doubt as mortar to seal myself behind them. This one seems fortified from the outside as well as in though and I’m thinking about simply hanging some art on the wall and calling it home.

I won’t of course, but this is my particular pity party for one so I’m allowed to be dramatic. The truth is, there is probably a door somewhere and I’m just not looking for it hard enough. I could attempt to climb my way out, in a way I suppose that is what I’m doing now, but it’s tiring work, climbing. I don’t seem to be making much progress either, I’m trying to chisel away stone to make footholds with a feather and the going is slow.

I’ve been questioning myself of late, wondering why I care how the words come out. Wondering why I bother to share them at all, if not for the sharing, would I care how they were arranged? They aren’t even mine – the words – I however, am theirs and must do their bidding. But then, if that is the case, why do they trouble me so sometimes? Bothersome, beautiful burdens words can often be. Fickle things that pick people to give them life upon pages and then torment them as they do.

Oh, but without them . . . I cannot imagine.

Well, back to it then, there’s a door around here somewhere.