From an MIT newspaper article about Junot Diaz that Marci sent me:
So how did he triumph over his writer’s block? For one thing, he set aside the sci-fi book that wasn’t coming together. Beyond that, it was a matter of persistence and hard work.
“I just bullied myself through it. I just kept throwing myself out into the wilderness of the word,” Diaz says. “I would write 200 pages, get [expletive] depressed and crazy, sit around for two months, and then come back and write another 200 pages. It was endless. Sometimes they don’t come easy.”
Ah goodie, a peek at what lies ahead.
I mentioned this to Andy, and of course we got into a little fight about it. It seems like when it comes to my writing, we always end up arguing. I say he just doesn’t understand, when of course he does, he’s already written a book, plus he knows me really well. And he says I’m just too unmotivated/distracted/scared/easy on myself. Which isn’t always true. But probably sometimes is.
I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe, as with many of my flaws (cough cough being too argumentative cough cough) I recognize my problem and want to change things, but at the same time, I don’t really want to put in all the effort that that change would take.
Maybe it’s me being defeatist since it seems that whenever I do put in all the effort it takes to change, I eventually run out of steam and regress and totally explode in the opposite direction.
Or maybe, as Junot said, this is the [expletive] depressed and crazy period of the cycle, and in a few days I’ll write 200 pages.
Filed under: 
humps are hard. persist! best wishes..
hey, i find it difficult to just write a restaurant brief for Citysearch or prep for Kaplan, so i TOTALLY understand. sometimes i wish there was a drill sergeant standing behind me telling me to get my butt to work. but then that would probably stress me out. discipline—such a simple concept to understand, but difficult to put into action.
Thanks, Tu!
Is that what you’re up to nowadays? You’ll have to send me links to your articles!
And yes, discipline is the key. Unfortunately, if it’s not “self-inflicted”, I don’t think it’s truly going to be successful. At least not in the long-term. Le sigh.