I've Lost the Will to Write. Maybe It's Under the Couch?

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I haven't written anything beyond a blog post in weeks. Sure, I've been busy. Even my recent vacation was packed with activity, but it's not like I haven't had any times when I could have fit in some writing.

It's not the time. It's a lack of motivation. For the first time in my writing life, I just don't want to write. I've had dry spells before, but I could always read, watch, or listen to something that inspired me, even if that something was my own stories or notes. Lately, I've been avoiding motivation and even when I have read or listened to something that would have kicked me in the rear I still have no desire to write.

Being a self-aware sort, I could tell you all of the reasons I've been down on writing lately. I won't list them here because it would just read silly. Let's just call it a lack of confidence, which feels ridiculous after the great feedback I received on one story in particular on the last round of beta reads. Irrational? Perhaps, but the feeling isn't going away, and I'm uncertain what can be done about it.

In the mean time, I'm enjoying the works of others and hoping to get past my doubts.

So, what's good? Well, on my trip I made it halfway through After the Saucers Landed by Douglas Lain. A Philip K. Dick Award nominee, it's like David Lynch directed the alien invasion show V from a script by Ratner's Star-era Don Delillo and Stardust Memories-era Woody Allen which was then novelized by Douglas Lain. Got it? It's weird, funny and filled to bursting with wry social commentary. I highly recommend it, as well as the Lain's great 2006 short story collection Last Week's Apocalypse.

My audiobook of choice recently has been Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's excellent Roadside Picnic, the source work for Andrei Tarkovsky's cinematic masterpiece Stalker. It's a great tale and I can't think of anyone who could do a better job of narrating Red Schuhart's tale of The Zone than the great Robert Forster.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. I wrote this to try and shake off my funk. I hope it works. It's like I've lost my oldest friend. If it does work, you'll be among the next to know.

Also, if you want to help a struggling author-type and you're planning to buy any of the works listed above, please purchase them through the links and click-through images I've provided above and put a few pennies into my Amazon Associate account at no additional cost to you. Thanks!