Tangoing with My Own Confusion

I write in many different venues. My most prolific though is through role-playing. No, get your mind out of the gutter. I enjoy collaborating with others using a single, or multiple characters of my own creation to further the plot. I am a member, and sometimes admin, of a multitude of proboards sites that we use to do our writing. It's a small, tight-knit community, and I love the variety we have.

We have written fantasy, science fiction, "based on books"... as well as my favorite: historical. The first RP I was involved in seriously was called Powder & Patch, based in the Georgian/Rocco period. Yes, time of wigs and painted faces... It was intimidating at first, but I found I enjoyed researching the era and getting into my character's everyday lives more than anything else. Everything I write in is always played "real time" so that the seasons work. It let's the development of characters be more in depth, and in the end it is truly the only way I think I could ever write in this format.

Currently, I am focused on one RP: Lost in Austen. It is a cross between canon characters, i.e. ones created by Jane Austen herself, and original characters. There is no direct link to the TV movie of the same name, though it is all of our interpretations of life in Regency Hertfordshire, England. I find playing original characters wonderful, but the best thing about the current endeavor is I stretch myself into canon. And playing the ultimate in dream men, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy himself!*

The other venues are poetry, both free verse and more traditional, and short stories. It makes me more grounded, and helps me stretch my muse in all sorts of ways. But enough on that - more on muse next post...

*note to certain Canadian follower: yes, I know he isn't close to Daniel Craig

Every writer hates staring at a blank page. Or rather, nowadays, a white screen. There is something inherently frightening about it. Maybe instead of the blankness of the page, it's the blankness of inspiration they fear.

Writer's block.

The bane of writer's all over the world.

It is something each of us deals with differently. I personally work in short verse for a while to relieve myself. Or spend time away for a few hours. But the most important thing I have learned in years of writing is to avoid burnout. Burnout leads directly to long-term writer's block. I've been down that dark tunnel and never wish it again.

An auspicious and foreboding beginning to this blog, I know. But it needed to be discussed. Here I plan on laying out the emotions, conflicts, struggles and successes that go with writing - something I do every single day. And I will discuss (with names shielded for the innocent) the pros and cons of writing in groups.

My goals for this blog are two fold: 1) to be an outlet for frustration and anger while writing and thus diverting it from hurting those I write with; and 2) to be helpful to other writer's in their quest to be understood. If I can achieve that, I shall be a happy authoress.