Writer on the Brink.

Oh God, I haven't had an original thought for my novel for weeks, it's mired in the gooey grey mass that passes for my brain. I must do something to jolt myself out of this predicament, I need the first draft completed in less than a month and the final chapter is illuding me. Suddenly a 3 watt bulb flickers on in the only functionning brain cell I have left. Try a contest on Writing.com, give myself a break from my book.

I log on and find the contests page. Oh there are so many to choose from, atleast I can ignore the Poetry,I'd have no chance. Then I see it "Do Your Shorts Have Legs Round 3 open" it's a catchy title and it might be just what I need to set the little grey cells back on track. I sign in without a further thought. The rules are straightforward, any genre, 1000 to 3000 words, image prompt to be included somewhere in the story, prompt to be posted on the 1st. of November, story to be posted by the 11th' of November. Excellent.

1st. of November I log on to view the prompt, a photograph of a lake with a wooden landing stage in the foreground and a mountain in the distance, a fairly unremarkable scene but I'm sure I will be inspired.

It is now 24 hours later and I am once again staring at the Lake. So far nothing, not the faintest glimmer of an idea, it's a lake so what!!! This contest is meant to set my imagination running, get the creative juices flowing, get me over my Writer's Block. Instead I think my last suviving brain cell is defunct, it is no more, it is an ex brain cell. Now what does that remind me of, it's no good my memory is failing aswell.

It is now the 5th. of November, Guy Fawkes night and I feel like throwing my laptop on the Bonfire as I really don't think I can bare to look at that Prompt again. It's so inoffensive and maybe that's the problem, there is nothing to create a spark unlike the Firework Displays that are taking place all over England tonight.

I am beginning to hate that LAKE with a venom I didn't know I had in me, I am normally such a placid person. So I turn to my Top Ten Tips for overcoming Writer's Block.

Top Tip number 1: Have a look at some photographs to find inspiration maybe some landscapes. AAAAAAGH. Everyone's against me, it's a conspiracy. Don't give up try the next Top Tip.

Top Tip number 2: Go out somewhere, take a break from staring at the page. So that's what I decide to do. Just jump in the car and GO.
I jump in the car but it won't GO, it's got a block aswell.

Never mind Top Tip number 3 may do the trick: Free Writing. Sit down with a pen and paper and write whatever comes into your head, without stopping, for an hour. I sit down and write for the next hour, but when I read back what I have written I am seriously worried. Three pages of utter drivel, mostly along the lines of how much I hate LAKES. And I had written that word in big letters many many times.

It's not looking hopeful. I'm nothing if not persistant so I look at Top Tip number 4: Only Begin, never wait for Inspiration, you could be waiting a LIFETIME!!! Now that really has helped, if I could "only begin" I wouldn't be looking at Tips for Writer's Block. And I certainly don't have a lifetime, it's actually FOUR DAYS to the deadline.

I've started having nightmares now, I wake up sweating convinced that I am drowning in a lake with a wooden landing stage and a mountain in the distance!! I think that I may never write another word, I pick up my pen and my hand starts to shake.

Is there any point in looking at Top Tip number 5, oh well atleast it gives me something to do: Have Faith in the Process. Works of art are organic things, they do not appear fully formed in the artists imagination. My problem is that the image has completely filled my imagination and blocked out everything else.My creativity has been stifled.

I AM NOTHING.

Stop , I must pull myself together , it's only a short story contest after all. What will happen if I don't manage to post an entry. Will I be blacklisted, a laughing stock, an ex-writer.

It's simple I'll think up a plausible excuse for not posting.

Excuse number 1: I've got Leprosy and all my fingers have dropped off. No not that likely as the last case in France was about 300 years ago!

Excuse number 2: My sheep have got Foot and Mouth and I have to sit with them day and night. More likely Foot in Mouth!

Excuse number 3: I've gone mad and am now in a Lunatic Asylum. I spend all day staring at an empty page with tears streaming down my cheeks. Well thats not far from the truth.

Excuse number 4: I am now an Alcoholic who can only see Doubles!

November the 12th. dawns brightly, I am FREE. The deadline has passed and there is nothing I can do about it. I slept well last night, not a lake to be seen anywhere. Think I'll leave contests alone for a bit, that was scary.

Suddenly I have the glimmer of an idea for a story, a writer enters a contest to try and overcome Writers Block but it makes it worse and nearly tips the author over the edge to insanity. Now that could be quite interesting, where's my pen and paper.