Shhhh, I think I've got it

Okay, this is a topic I didn't want to have to write about. Why? Writer's block scares me to death. It's one of those topics that I'd rather avoid completely. Just hearing the very term sends me screaming down into a well. Ironically, I think I'm in the middle of it. Ouch, did I really speak that out loud??

With my first novel, Whistlin' Dixie In A Nor'easter, I didn't experience writer's block. The simple reason for that may have been I wrote the book in my spare time with no deadline, no pressure and no contract for a second! I could write when I wanted and if I chose to do so, my book could sit idle in my desk drawer for weeks or months.

I believe I've stumbled upon the downside of a two-book deal. It poses the question, in an honest way I believe, does pressure to perform cause anxiety, which can cause writer's block??? I think this author can say yes.

For fun I looked it up on the internet. Wikipedia has this to say about the dreaded curse....

"However, another interpretation of writer's block, sometimes confused with scant output, is given in the book Silences, by Tillie Olsen, who argues that historically many women and working-class writers have been unable to devote themselves to, or concentrate on, their writing because their social and economic circumstances prevent them from doing so."

AMEN sister Tillie.

I have a hard time being creative when I'm worried. Especially about money. And these days, well, need I say anything else?

The solution? I'm not sure. Buy tons of lottery tickets? I think not. But what I am doing is writing anyway. Just getting something down that can be edited later when I have more to work with. Like I've said before, editing is the fun part. The first draft is, for me anyway, well - hell. There, I've said it.