Blogger's block

You've heard of writer's block - now meet blogger's block.

The only cure for the former is to just get writing. There's nothing worse than sitting here staring at a blank sheet of paper or its modern equivalent, the empty white screen. Writing anything, even if it's complete bollocks,* is better than writing nothing and once you've got the bollocks out of your system there's a fair chance you'll find the writer's equivalent of your sea legs again.

Blogger's block is similar but, at least in my case, with a bit of added complexity thrown in. I've been working flat out all week, mostly writing for other people, which means when it came to writing for me, there wasn't much left. Inspiration, like Elvis Presley, had left the building. I've been incredibly busy on a major ghostwriting job this week, which has pretty much drained me. Add in juggling several new job offers, which involved lengthy telephone discussions and/or poring over freelance contracts plus vast quantities of email - not only did all that leave me too knackered to write but on the rare occasions that fleeting inspiration struck, when I had free time I'd discover I'd forgotten precisely what it was what that I'd decided, several hours earlier, to blog about.

Even yesterday's blog was a struggle and that after borrowing Dougalfish's idea! I'm sure you don't want to know it took me the best part of 90 minutes and two pints of tea to reconstruct that day.

Here I sit on a Friday evening, too exhausted to watch Wednesday's recording of Torchwood, sipping my third glass of Merlot. I didn't feel like blogging at all, but once in a week is a poor show. Hence my heroic effort tonight to explain why blogging can just be too damn difficult at times.

I'm looking forward to a lighter workload next week, including the opportunity to hang out at an unconference for online journalism. Who knows, it might even give me something to blog about!

* pardon my French

Writer's block

I'm struggling with writer's block today, hence the blog in the hope it might stimulate me to get something creative on paper. I'm halfway through writing web copy for my lovely graphic designer's new website and the inspiration has just - gone...

I am feeling stressed. Yesterday was one of those nightmare days when everything conspired to go wrong. A client wanted extra work done with no warning and I have no time to do it, so I spent a fair bit of time trying to outsource the work to someone else, time I should have spent on getting on with things. And I'm still waiting for clearance to give my sub-contractee the go-ahead. Two people contacted me wanting work done next week as well, and I had to say no. I hate turning away new business but I really had no option. That meant more time looking up contacts to pass on to my callers so they could find an alternative writer. I am fully booked for the next month and am already contemplating having to work over the weekend - again - when what I really want to do is spend time with my sister and unwind.

My phone rang non-stop yesterday too, causing further distraction and disruption to my working day. I am busier than I have ever been right now - while this is good, part of me longs for the days two years ago after I first went freelance when I had time to potter between jobs and do the paperwork at my leisure. Those days are long gone and now I am seriously considering if I should outsource my paperwork too so I don't lose control of my business. I feel like crawling into bed and pulling the duvet over my head so it all goes away. But I'm made of stronger stuff than that.

Ok, break over. Moan over. Time to crack on.