Boredom

If someone had told me…  Never mind.  That's a cliche.   

What I need to say is this:  Sometimes, writing is boring as hell.

I had no idea.  I've wanted to write since I was a little boy.  I used to think, if I ever get the chance to do what I really wanted, I'll have it made.  I'll be inspired all the time.  Every day will be a fresh new experience.  I'll never want to do anything else.

Sometimes, that's the way it is.  But, sometimes, it's not.  Like several periods last week. 

I'll be sitting, for example, at a desk in the Silent Study Room at our local public library, and I'll be working away when I start to yawn.  That's often the first sign.  Then I'll feel my attention wane.  I'll be more interested in the people coming and going outside the Silent Study Room, or the librarian shelving books.  I'll check emails, once too often.  I'll find just about anything else to do except what's in front of me (like browsing in a bookI have on the table beside me, or checking out a new website, or whatever). 

In short, whatever's on my computer screen no longer engages me.  I'll sit up straighter in my chair, give my head a little shake, move closer to my screen.  But none of it helps.  My head becomes foggy, my eyes don't see what's in front of me, and all I want to do is close them.

Sometimes, I do close them, and, sitting up in the chair, I feel myself falling asleep.  More than anything, I want to put my head down and rest, like other people in the Silent Study Room do from time to time (some of them even fall asleep and snore).  But I try to fight it.  I open my eyes again, look at what's on my screen, and ask myself, what the hell's wrong with you?  You need to do this.  You need to get reconnected to what you're doing.  You don't have all day to get this work done.

Before I know it, my writing session will be over, and I'll have wasted it, closing my eyes, and wishing I could fall asleep.  It's a horrible feeling.  I want to be there.  I want to work on my writing so badly.  But I'm just not in the right frame of mind to do it that day.

Or, more likely, I'm not working on something that stimulates me. 

That's the trick, I've found.  Sometimes, I'm just bored with what I'm working on.  That doesn't mean I'll always be bored with it.  It just means it doesn't excite me enough at that particular time to keep working on it, to make some headway with it.  The best thing to do, then, is leave it alone.  Work on something else.  Instead of working on Chapter Six, Scene Three, work on Chapter Seven, Scene One.  Work on something, anything, you haven't looked at in a while.  Work on something that fires you up at that moment.

Working on the same thing when you're utterly bored with it usually isn't productive at all.  By the time my head is full of mush, and all I want to do is close my eyes and go to sleep, I'm pretty much done for the day.  It takes a lot of work to get past that while still working on the same thing.  It can be done, as I've proven to myself from time to time, but it's tough to get inspired by something that's putting you to sleep. 

So here's what I do, if I remember to, or if I'm not so determined to get one piece of work done, I keep working on it despite knowing I'm probably wasting my time.  

I take a short break.  I get up and go for a walk.  Around the house.  Around the block.  I get some fresh air.  I reinvigorate my body by getting my mind off that and putting it on something else.  I exercise.  I do jumping jacks to get my circulation going again. 

But, if you take my advice and do any of these, make sure you come back to your desk.  It's easy to take what you think will be a short break, get involved in something else, and not return to your work that day.  Don't do that.  Writing time is always brief.  Too brief.  You need to get back to it as soon as possible.  But, sometimes, even a short break away from it will allow you to be much more productive than if you hadn't taken the break at all.

Then, when you return to your desk, work on something else.  Have multiple things going at one time.  If editing that scene isn't working, then transpose another scene.  Or work on a logic problem somewhere else.  Or on better understanding your protagonist's reason for doing that.  Or edit another scene altogether.  You get the idea.

A novel involves all different kinds of work.  All of it has to be done at one time or another.  Doesn't mean you have to do that piece of it right now. 

Yes, maybe it would be nice if you could get it done now, so you could comfortably move on to something else.  But it doesn't always work that way.  If you're utterly bored with it, you're wasting your time.  And the job you're doing won't be all that good.  That piece of your novel deserves better than that.  You can't afford to be shoddy on that piece of work, just so you can move on to this other one.  How about moving on to that one right away, the one that fires you up, and returning to the other one later, when you're fired up by it once again, when you have other ideas you want to try, or when your head is really clear, and you know you'll do a good job because you feel it?

Everything will get done eventually.  A boss isn't leaning over you to make sure you get that piece of work done today, even though you're thoroughly bored with it.  When you're a writer, working on your novel, your passion, the love-of-your-life–you're the boss.  And you can work on whatever you damn well please, when you damn well please.  Use that flexibility.  Go easy on yourself.  Do what inspires you today.  Sooner or later, it'll all get done.

Make writing fun.  Don't let it become drudgery.  And fight the boredom any way you can.