Writing is Eating Ice Cream Out of the Tub

Writing fiction = Staring at blank screen wondering which word to use next. Seriously, is it any wonder there are writers groups? We need support. We need pats on the head. We need ice cream out of the carton and the biggest spoon in the drawer.

I'm not a nervous, overwrought writer. The opposite. I get antsy when I haven't written in a while. Makes me agitated. I haven't the slightest clue how I got that way. When people ask me why I started writing a book, I say, 'I just felt like writing.' (remember the line from Forest Gump?) I got a bee in my bonnet. More like, I got a beehive in my britches.

But, I have had writer's block recently. I'm not sure I would diagnose it as a true case of writer's block. I want to write, but ... Not going to elaborate much on the dot, dot, dot except to say that if you have been there before, you know exactly what the dot, dot, dot could mean. Fatigue, negativity, real work. Bah, real work! I challenge the notion that writing is not real work. It'll lay you flat. Take every bit of energy you have, and leave you with an unfinished project. There's no tidy ending to a piece of writing. It might get published, but there's always something you'll want to make better or change.

So, rather than run the risk of neurosis, check out one of these. In Portland, there's no shortage of people to shore up the crazed inkhead. There are more than this. Let me know if you want to add one.

The Attic
Willamette Writers
Oregon Writers Colony
Dangerous Writers/Tom Spanbauer (also Google it)
Multnomah Arts Center
LitReactor (somewhat connected to Portland)
Rose City Romance Writers (RWA)