banging my head against the writer’s block

Ever had an idea that seems simple to you, but is so very hard to communicate by putting writing it down in words? I mean, if someone were to interview you with a series of questions about the matter, you’d be able to answer them with ease, and the sum total of the answers would serve as that written communication. The tough part, of course, is coming up with those questions to ask yourself on your own, so that you can write down all the answers.

This is the problem I keep facing. I keep getting tasked with writing documentation and I keep choking every time I sit down and try to write it! I just can’t bring myself to do it and it’s driving me nuts.

I guess it’s liberal arts equivalent of being a porn star, having to sit down and write on demand. I just can’t do it. Perhaps, carrying on this really poor analogy, it’s performance anxiety? Is there a special writer’s Viagra I can take?

Comments

  1. I would recommend outlining. It’s a good way to separate all the issues at stake, and can make aswering the questions much easier than trying to answer them all at once, just by jamming something out.

  2. I’ve tried the outline approach and it doesn’t seem to help — I can’t even get the outline down.

    The problem is just in committing to writing something down that I’ll be happy with. Or, once I’ve written something, allowing it to stick around instead of just deleting it wholesale.

    I think I just need to close my eyes and blurt out whatever comes out, and let others do the revising and deleting for me. I just hate to do that …

    — Dossy

  3. just sent an email to you at panoptic, but i’m pretty sure you have a new job, huh? email me- i found something funny you might enjoy. also, vacation pics from mexico.
    god, your baby is cute.

  4. Hello, Soto

    (spoken in the same quirky way as those silly “Hello, Moto” commercials)

    Long time no see.

    (spoken in the slow, deep voice of the stereotyped American Indian, saying such things as, “White Man big ass.”)

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