Struggling with Writer’s Block: Reflections on Writing Progress

Late Morning/Early Afternoon, Saturday, June 29, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Madison Summer Almanac

It’s a gray, chilly, and gloomy Saturday morning in my corner of eastern New Hampshire. While it is not as cold as it gets in winter, the temperature is 63°F (17°C) under cloudy skies (with some light rain on the radar but not yet overhead). With the wind blowing from the southwest at 5 MPH (9 Km/H), the feels-like temperature is 66°F (19°C). Today’s forecast is all wet; we can expect rain throughout the daytime hours. The high will be 65°F (19°C). Tonight, scattered showers will affect the area. The low will be 61°F (16°C).

Even though there are no rain clouds over the Madison/Eidelweiss area, they will be here later. I don’t think we’ll see torrential downpours or thunderstorms; the radar on my Weather app doesn’t show any massive rainstorms, and the forecast doesn’t say anything about “boomers” or the potential for lightning strikes. But it will rain on and off throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

On Writing & Storytelling: Block 1, Writer 0

Yesterday was worse than Thursday for writing. I had a restless night and got up late. I had to hurry through breakfast and write a short blog post to stay on track. I was only half an hour behind, which isn’t too bad. (I can start the afternoon shift at 2:30 without much trouble if my Muse shows up.)

But my Muse didn’t help me yesterday. No matter how much I tried to focus and ignore other things, I couldn’t write any more of Reunion: Coda. Classical music didn’t help. Neither did putting myself in Prof. Jim Garraty’s shoes in the spring of 2000. I finished Friday’s novel writing shift where I’ve been stuck for a while – at 393 pages, 17 chapters done, and one in progress.

Writer’s Block beat me again.