NYC Teen Author Festival -- A Writer's Thoughts

Last night kicked off the NYC Teen Author Festival, and although I've never been to an event quite like it with regards to writing, I was completely blown away.  I was so inspired by everything that was shared that I actually went home and started writing out some new ideas that had come to be during the subway ride back home.  The panel of authors included Gayle Forman, Daphne Grab, Carolyn Mackler, Sarah Mlynowski , Blake Nelson, Marie Rutkoski, Eliot Schrefer, Natalie Standiford and David Levithan.  Hearing about their writing process, and listening to pages from first drafts to finished products was a learning experience.  I sort of felt out of my element as I listened to them speak, and yet there was something familiar about it that reminded me of the many film panels I have sat in on.  For me it's comforting to hear about struggles from those that are established in the industry, and yet some of their answers and advice troubled me.

By the time the panel opened to general Q&A I was interested to see what type of questions would be asked and the answers the panel would give.  When a young girl asked about what their methods were to dealing with writers block I was actually taken back a little.  It was interesting hearing that every one of the authors said that it was total BS.  That writers block was just something made up, it was nothing more than an excuse.  It actually threw me.  Granted I had made several excuses of my own for about 6 months while writing my book, I was just not feeling it, had no inspiration or drive to finish.  I had written the first half of the book in about 6 months and then just froze.  I couldn't push myself to get up over that initial hump that had formed dead smack in the center of my story.  I wish I had heard that months ago.  It is the simplest of thoughts, that as a first time writer I just never considered.  It was something I did not want to recognize. I was doing nothing to help myself by making those excuses.

It has now been almost two years since I first started writing, and I am currently working on a second revision, but it took a friend to suggest I enter the NaNoWriMo contest to get me to this point.  I used that challenge to complete the last half of my story.  I knew where I needed to go, and what I wanted to do with the story, but I had no idea how to get it to that point.  Knowing that I had 30 days to write 50,000 words forced me to just sit down and get it out.  In the end I ended up trashing 2 chapters in their entirety as they ended up being completely useless, but setting that deadline for myself, and not letting writers block or mental shutdowns get the better of me was by far one of the most difficult challenges.

It is with the utmost respect that I now say, I totally agree.  Of course I feel like I will later regret agreeing, but for now I can't help thinking of all the time I wasted.  Granted the book would probably have turned out to be a totally different beast from what it is in its current state, but from everything that was shared last night I feel that is the most significant thing I heard.  Everyone will have a different writing style that works best for them, but as long as you remind yourself that there really is no such thing as writers block, you will get through the sticky areas.  So with that thought, I leave to consider my own options and get back to completing my revision.

Happy writings!