Blocked

At the beginning of the month, I attended a wonderful seminar - Story Masters - given by Donald Maass, James Scott Bell and Christopher Vogler.

Any writer - aspiring or published - should go to this if possible. There's another seminar being held next year around the same time in Seattle. Check out free-expressions.com for more info.

Because let me tell you...The first HOUR of  this seminar was worth the money. My friends and I spent three days with three incredible, intelligent men who all had a slightly different approach to improving the craft of writing. All of us walked away with knew knowledge and ideas.

I walked away with too much. And a really bad sore throat.

By the time I got home Sunday night, my mind was spinning with possible adjustments to plots, characters who wouldn't shut up, ideas and ideas and IDEAS galore. I couldn't wait to sit down and start typing.

Problem was...I was really sick, and really tired. And to top it all off, I started a new job the very next morning. NEW JOB, guys. I haven't worked outside of my home in 4 years. And the day after the Story Masters blew my mind, I had to put aside all of those beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous things swirling like a tornado through my head, begging me to get them down on paper, and go to work.

Writing had to wait. And wait. And wait. I obviously couldn't write at my new job. My throat wasn't getting any better, so I had to spend half of an evening in urgent care. And I also had to get my house back in order after being gone for five days. In the meantime, I was gaining a plethora of knowledge during training for my new job.

And did I mention the NEVER ENDING HARVEST SEASON FROM HELL?

When I actually had time to sit my butt in my chair...

Nothing happened.

I. Mean. Nothing.

This has NEVER happened to me before. Sure, I've had a case of writer's block here or there, but every time  it's ever occurred before, I got past it quickly.

This block lasted for DAYS.

You see, I have always considered myself a pantser. But lately it occurred to me plotting more would help me edit my work. So I mapped out this beautiful story. Had all of the elements of Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey. Used Donald Maass' prompts and James Scott Bell's advice to better my plot and characters.

This story was golden.

And I couldn't write it. Not a SINGLE FRICKEN WORD.

I fretted for days. I thought that by going back to work I'd lost the creative part of my mind. I started to believe I wasn't a writer. That it didn't matter how hard I tried because I sucked.

Long story short, I got over it. Er...kind of.

I'm still not sure what happened. Maybe my brain had shut down after being overloaded with knowledge from both the new job and Story Masters. It's possible I plotted this book too much for my muse's liking. Whatever the reason, I knew I had to get past this. So I decided to start a different story. I have no idea where this one's going. There is NO PLOT. I have a few characters in my head. This could turn out to be a nightmare.

All I know is this - words are flying, spewing, BLEEDING onto the page.

Whatever works, right?

What do you all do when you've gotten a case of writer's block? Do you plot? Or do you pants it?