It used to be the empty page. That was what writers feared. Having a sheet in front of them they had to fill. Now it's the blank screen. I've been trying to write the first draft of book three of my trilogy. This has been going on for a couple of weeks and I've really struggled. Okay I've had other stuff to do like marking for work and meetings and nice things like family stuff but that doesn't normally stop me sneaking in the odd word hear and there.
Actually I have written the odd word but that is about it. After some tinkering I've currently got just over 8000 words, but that is built on the few thousand that were already there. It's not all bad. There are chapters with titles. The first act has some key scenes in place. And I've got a better idea of where it is set and what the main characters' motivations are. What's happened is I'm not actually writing it. I sit down and do anything but work on it. I open up the document and just stare at the screen. Then I do something else.
Recently I've bought loads of CDs (from Amazon and charity shops) which I've ripped to my music library. And I've joined iTunes Match. Then there's been the bidding for things on Ebay: laptops, motorbikes, Dr Marten's boots...
So what's wrong?
I think it's because I've just finished draft two of the second book in the trilogy. That was already forty odd thousand words and now tops out at eighty thousand. That felt like a novel (albeit a rough one) and all I had to do was fill in the story. Maybe I'm struggling to change gear? Get into first-draft mode?
Here's the plan, then. I'm going to work on the first draft but without thinking. I'll just slap words in and keep going. Bad words and the wrong words. Page after page of them.
Anything to fill up that blank screen.