Medicine Head Writing

Do you ever get so hungry that when you open the refrigerator door, you can only stare because nothing sounds good enough or fast enough? When you take inventory of the pantry contents you simply sigh, close the door and go back to what you were doing.

That is the state of my writing appetite right now. I’ve opened the refrigerator door and found there are so many ideas I can’t decide on one I want to work on. I’m so hungry that middle grade sounds too light, as though it won’t fill me up. Young adult sounds too salty, or greasy, maybe even bitter. A short story would leave me unsatisfied, but a novel takes too long to reach that sated state. I’m not in the mood for humor or heavy emotion. I want to start a new story, but don’t want to abandon the WIPs.

I’ve forced myself to work on a WIP even though I’m “not in the mood” for it. The work is probably acceptable, but I felt rather disjointed and unattached from the writing while I was putting it down. Almost like the medicine head feeling you get when you’re on antihistamines.

Have you ever felt so dissatisfied by your writing options that you found yourself stuck? What did you do to break through?

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