Writer's Block and Getting My Groove Back

One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes comics
by Bill Watterson

I found myself having a hard time coming up with a post for this week. Actually, I realized—too late, of course—that I should have had a post ready for last week instead, according to my "post every other week" pattern. Oops.

Better late than never, right? Except that I have too many ideas and no ideas, all at the same time. I have at least nine drafts in my folder, and none of them appeal to me right now as things I want to write about. "Drafts" is sort of a loose term, too . . . some have a couple paragraphs, and some are a single sentence with a main idea that may or may not still make sense to me now. (Think goat—shoes—apostrophes—passive voice and you'll get the idea of why I'm writing this blatantly generic post.)

I blame the AtoZ Challenge. Yes, that was back in April . . . and I wrote the posts in March so I could preschedule them . . . and now it's June . . . but somehow, the month of May threw me off my groove. I've been crazy busy with editing jobs, which has been wonderful, and if everyone who's booked ahead comes in on time, I'll be crazy busy with editing jobs through the summer months.

I've also taken some editing classes over the past couple months and have started a six-week course this week to improve my copyediting skills. It pays to keep up the skills I have and to learn new ones. The language is always changing. I work in a variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction. Authors and their writing skills vary from client to client, and I never know what skills I'm going to need until I start a particular job. Am I doing a simple copyedit? Am I making major structural changes? Am I coaching as I go along so the writing improves for the next book? Am I fact-checking?

I'm encouraged by the number of good writers I'm working with, and I'm encouraged by the humble, teachable attitude of the newer writers I've worked with recently—those whose work has "good bones" and simply needs a little elbow grease. It's a good season and I'm happy for the way Easy Reader Editing has grown and continues to grow.

One of the changes that is on the horizon is that I'm moving the "business" end of this site to an actual website instead of trying to mold my blog into a do-it-all spot. The blog itself will stay the same, and it will remain here on Blogger, but it will link through my new site, and all the pesky details of services and pricing will be moved so it doesn't clutter up the works here. If all goes well in the setup, it should be almost a non-event for blog readers.

So hey, I guess I had some things to say, even if they rambled a bit. In the event that you'd like to see a blog post about something other than goats, shoes, and apostrophes, let me know in the comments, and I'll gladly do some research to accommodate you. I love to answer the burning questions that no one else cares about can.