The Write Nook

Every writer has an awkward moment. Whether it comes to them in the art of writing their poem, short story, novel, or thinking about their next project. It’s always good to be reminded that you’re never alone in your writing endeavors. Here are my five favorite awkward moments, inspired by some Tumblr posts:

• Writing until 3 am
  This incident is Dangerous with a capital ‘d.’ Some people are prosperous (and courageous) enough to quit their day job to become a fulltime writer. Some people haven’t gotten there yet and instead set aside an hour or two every night to dedicate to their WIP (work in progress). Sometimes, those people lose track of time and end up writing a lot later than expected, spending much longer on their computer, feeling their eyes grow heavy and their brains turn to mush. Then when that person is actually coherent and looks back on their so-called “progress,” they realize they wrote a bunch of nonsense for six hours. I feel as though that would make a good book in itself: collecting the sleep-deprived rambles of one person and calling it The Sleep-Deprived Rambles of the Working Person: A Collection.
• Clearing Internet History
  The internet is a broad and informative world. This world teaches us much more than 10^th grade algebra and that one biology course in college we are required to take and pass with at least a ‘C’ average. The internet becomes a writer’s best friend to help teach and inform them of things they don’t know about. Things such as different ways blood spatter occurs, the blueprints of the Pentagon, or how much rain falls during Monsoon season. Writers want accurate portrayals of concepts they aren’t informed about, but I one question for you: have you cleared your internet history yet? Because Big Brother is watching and he knows you Googled how to break into a government-owned building last night.
• Drinking Your Choice of Poison
  Coming across a writer who chooses to drink and write is always a fun time. Just ask them. Similar to writing when exhausted, writing while slightly intoxicated can spring ideas into writing some never thought imaginable. We’ve talked about what to drink while reading on this blog previously but never have we thought about talking about writing and drinking. That’s crazy talk. Writing and drinking could be amusing, only if done responsibly – so why not try it out and check in the following morning to see what drunk you had to say about the plot.
• Doubting the ability to spell
  It’s happened to all of us at least six or seven times. Writing the same word over and over and over and over again triggers something in the writer’s brain where that word starts to look wrong. Having a dictionary on hand or on the computer is always necessary in instances like this. It becomes even funnier when the person reaches out to a friend or their editor and says, “Hey, I think I’m spelling ‘please’ wrong, can you double check this paragraph so I can keep going?” only to hear, “Why are you spelling it ‘pleese’ or ‘puhleese’ or in 100 different incorrect ways?”
• Writing about how to cure writer’s block
  We do our best to help those trying to overcome their latest bout of writer’s block. From writing about tips from other authors to simple words that can be used in texts, we try to cover it all. Even on social media, we often share a captivating prompt or two that we find could be helpful in at least getting a writer back on their computers and typing away. So, we know some writers are familiar with that awkward moment where they sit down with their drink in hand and fingers ready to type…and end up not being able to produce anything at all. Not even a single word. Then they spend their allotted hours on Googling ‘how to cure writer’s block’ as if there was a medicine or natural remedy on WebMD or something.