A Fly On the Wall, August 2, 2013

The Write Stuff
by Jim Murchison 
@JimMurchison

I do not experience writer's block per say. What I more likely experience is writer’s clutter. There are so many things that I would like to write about that I have to decide where to start. My mind races with various approaches on how to comment on a play or a thing, and I have to consciously hold myself back from going off in 17 different directions at once. Sometimes if I can’t decide I just write whatever pops into my head and then I try to read it as if I didn’t write it. If when I look at it that way, I read it and think, “What the heck is this guy talking about?” I know what I need to remove or edit. 

When I see a play it’s the same thing. I look at the approach and decide if it works for me. Sometimes mixed media or various styles work effectively like when I saw Innocence Lost or Arms and The Man respectively. Other times it turns into a confusing hodgepodge like Whispering Pines that makes you wonder what was the point of the whole thing? 

So now here I am thinking about what it is I want to write and whether it should be funny or dramatic, satirical or straightforward. Do I want to write a play or a short story? I don’t think any of it matters in the long run. I just want it to be good. Ultimately when I write stuff I want it to be the right stuff.