Writer’s Block Under Lockdown

When you can’t quit the day job just yet and dedicate yourself body and soul to writing, a writer will move heaven and earth to find time to write. Now that all the research is done for Sunset Shadows, I can finally hunker down and put all the pieces of the puzzle together. At first I told myself I would take advantage of the Christmas holidays, shutting myself in the room to write. Ha! Fat chance. The holidays came and went, and bonding with the loved ones was more important. Plus, it was during that time that I stumbled on some new information that provided a viable plot twist.

Then I fooled myself into believing that I would take a couple of weeks off from work to finally write the main body in Spring so I could hand the manuscript to my editor before or during Summer. Another pipe dream gone awry.

Then COVID-19 appeared and here we are into Week #3 of lockdown in Berlin. You would think this is the time I have so desperately desired being served on a silver platter. But here I am with a massive writer’s block, a pile of research, and a reluctance to write. Why? I have the time, the inclination, the passion, definitely the plot all figured out, even decided whom to kill off this time around. But I feel so empty.

Apparently I am not the only writer suffering from this at the moment, if the writers’ groups on social media are anything to go by. With the whole world changing the way it views relationships, society in general, infrastructures that we have come to know and trust, and even our own basic psycho-emotional needs, life is turning out to be stranger than fiction. No wonder that writers are struggling to come up with more fiction when we are already living a suspense – thriller – paranormal – science fiction lifestyle under lockdown.

Everything I grew up with is suddenly upside down, and I don’t even know what I can count on the next day, week, or month ahead. I can’t even bring myself to plan for the next holiday, so how on earth am I supposed to draw from the inner resources to create a novel that surpasses reality? Life is already doing that for me.

Writer’s Block and I are old familiar friends. Thankfully we don’t meet up that often, otherwise nothing would ever end up on paper. Even blogging became so difficult and the gaps between blog entries kept metamorphosing into an abyss. But every barrel has a bottom and once you hit that, there is really no place else to go except back up.