Hard to get myself writing!

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I've been taking writing classes for a few years, part-time, but I still have trouble actually sitting down and starting to write. I have no idea how I've managed to get so many short pieces together for assignments in the past. Somehow it involves forcing myself into the chair, staying up all night, and then finally writing stuff on a notepad while I'm just waking up in bed.

My school is having this pretty awesome writing contest, sponsored by a major publishing house, with a $500 prize. The odds of winning don't look too, too bad (compared to national writing contests, for example) and last year's winners don't seem out of my league. My teacher "strongly encourages" me to expand a piece I submitted to class and enter it in the contest. The problem is I find it incredibly difficult to get writing and have no idea where to go with the story.

So... how do you get yourself to actually sit down and get those words on the page? Have you ever had success writing something because you had a deadline or a contest looming, rather than just working on it at your own pace?

I've had this problem often as well. Usually I'd just stress out about it and think about how I should be doing it until the night before it's due. Even then, after procrastinating so long I still won't be able to write seemingly until I start to become drowsy. However, most of my English teachers have said that I'm a wonderful writer (of essays and such).

If this problem could be overcome, I thought, maybe I won't have such a hard time in English classes. Unfortunately, this year was made even more difficult because my teacher, on the first day, declared that he "accepts late work for full credit". A few weeks before the huge deadline date, I sat down in front of my computer, but nothing could come up. It seems like simply trying to force myself to do work didn't work.

Now I think that vaguely being tired opens myself up a lot to writing (I'm usually a very private person; I get suspicious if someone around me looks at my screen). Maybe it's just an AS trait, but it's a pretty big hindrance.

Most of the time when I proofread other people's papers, I can't believe how many errors, both grammatical and logical, they make. Whenever I write my papers, self-imposed grammar came naturally and I would reread everything I wrote and edit it sometimes hundreds of times (perhaps an OCD quality?).

There: I've typed up something instead of doing nothing like I would for schoolwork. I think that procrastination/writer's block is probably more of a barrier that you subconsciously set up for yourself. If there were more incentives to writing (the $500 prize, in your case), you should have a stronger desire to write. Somehow even if I know that procrastination is bad, I can't bring myself to do any writing until the last minute. I suppose pressure also plays a large part in starting to work.

Other things I've tried which were partly successful were writing down ideas I had, telling someone else to tell me to write about something, or simply writing about something I like and then slowly bringing it to what I'm supposed to be writing about. The first and latter helped me a lot since by the time I was bored of those, my head would usually be filled with ideas about the subject, which I could then put on paper.

Hope that helped

Sometimes I find the monitor screen a little cold and intimidating. I like to brainstorm in a notebook, then sit down and edit and fine tune on the monitor. I actually scribble faster than I type anyway.

Music helps fuel my imagination a lot. If I'm working on something with a specific historic setting, I listen to music from that period to aid in the visualization process.

It also helps me to involve myself internally in the dialogue between characters. Often the dialogue will come first, then the scene begins to sketch itself in around that. Since I tend to talk to myself constantly anyway, it's an easy jumping off point.

But I totally get your problem. Sometimes it seems next to impossible to shut out all the other stuff I could or should be doing and stop thinking about everything under the sun except the story I'm working on.

Had the same problem writing commercials, but again, when the deadlines loomed, I resorted to creating character dialogue. Worked every time.

The starting is the key. Put the first line on the page and the snowball will usually start rolling on it's own. Tack a Nike sign over your workspace: Just Do It.

It's hard. It's taxing, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I recommend turning it into a routine. A HABIT. This is VERY important. At a certain time every day, WRITE.

If you can't, try timing it. Give yourself ten or fifteen minutes and write NONSTOP, not caring about typos or mispellings or BS or stuff that doesn't work or doesn't make sense, not caring about whether or not it's good. Just ROCKET ON THROUGH FOR TEN MINUTES! This works best with pencil and paper.

If all else fails, go to someplace where there is NOTHING to do, NOTHING to be distracted by--carrying nothing but a pen and paper.

Don't pay much attention to my advice. I ain't wrote nothing for a long time.

Since you brought it up, though, here's a couple of things that work for me.

Don't worry about whether it's any good. Give yourself permission to write absolute garbage as long as you're putting words down. You can always fix it up later, you're going to anyway, and a lot of times you realize when you look at it later that it really isn't as bad as you thought.

Inspiration is nice, but it isn't really important. Some writer, I can't remember who, suggested that you go back and take a look at stuff you wrote when you were feeling inspired and stuff you wrote when writing was nothing but a chore. They said you'll find that the inspired stuff isn't actually any better, you just liked it better while you're doing it.

Comparing the process to eating an ice cream sundae, I've heard the suggestion to "eat the cherry first." Like if you're writing fiction, you start by writing the scene you're most interested in or excited about.

I have a lot of problems with writing as well. In fact, I presently have a word document open (it has been since ~2PM, and it's now 10:30) in which I've only managed to get maybe 400 words down. It's difficult, and I don't always know how to start - or continue, for that matter.

I find that roleplay (not forum-based, but the instantaneous line-by-line type done in a game or in MSN, whether done as a solo activity while others do their own thing or otherwise) can help inspire me and get me started. I guess it works on the same concept as free writing - just splurging thoughts onto paper (or in this case, a screen) - and pulling out ideas from that. Music can also be a pretty big help at times. Finding that right track or album to energise you.

... And that's sort of all I can bring to mind. I have too many problems with this to be offering much advice!

this is a problem i had when i tryed in vian to write a novel on several occasions however this
don't have this problem when it comes to writing poems as i have writn quite a few resently.

Thanks for the tips... I don't normally have trouble writing once I'm into the story and the plot and the characters take over. But this contest is for a short story, which is a lot more about structure and discipline than about pulling out a story over hundreds of pages. I actually have something partly written and some idea about where I'd like to take it, but I find the emphasis on literary writing - trying to produce beautiful prose as much as write a compelling story - is a huge challenge. Maybe you need to write the story first and then fix up the language later? I don't know...

I'm trying to whet myself back into writing by writing in a journal of sorts. Some days I find I can write three or four pages, others I can write one paragraph at most. that's how it works.