Writer’s Block is Hell !

I’ve been trying to write a story for weeks now, months even. I’m a little worried that I may not find my way back. It’s not as if I have an agent who’s on my ass about a deadline that’s fast approaching. Nor am I in the middle of a book deal (though, for a while, I thought I was in the middle of a bilingual, rock opera entitled, “Respiro/I Breathe.” I haven’t totally abandoned this project centered around a heavily Hispanic-Asthmatic boy in 1960’s Detroit being raised by parents lost in their world of cannabis, cocaine, meth and unrequited love. All of the journals, drawings, songs (lyrics) and stage designs are housed in a very large, very heavy red box in the basement. Ugh!).

I’m a writer who enjoys writing small stories, vignettes, that encapsulate a moment in time, a specific feeling or memory. I write for the sake of writing because it feels so damn good to create a series of related paragraphs that, in the end, come together, coalesce into a piece of writing that tickles my fancy, pure and simple. Sure I want readers other than my solitary self; but , I’m selfish and I write to please me, my tastes, my whims. No apologies. And … as of late, no stories.

My current idea revolves around the following plot line: Rory, a 27-ish recent graduate of the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit , has this idea, this crazy notion of providing a communal space for young urban artists ,visionaries, writers, furniture makers, musicians, and architects to create, show, sell and perform their work. Not a new idea, by any means, but an idea that has total relevance to the excitement in Detroit’s thriving spirit of entrepreneurial renaissance.

I realize Rory’s character needs a lot more work, some necessary complexity. I’m struggling with how Rory’s figuring out her frustrations, finding love and fulfilling her own dreams. If Rory can’t make her own dreams manifest, how in the hell can she inspire others to do the same?

In other words, Rory’s stuck.

Ruben’s stuck , too.

Oh shit !

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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