Writers Block: My Constant Companion

It never fails.

I wake up at 3:00 AM, wide awake and sitting upright in bed. The perfect scene! Knowing that these moments of brilliance are not to be ignored, I leap from bed, flip on the light (which earns a grumble from the bear in bed beside me), and head straight for the computer. I tap and click away swiftly, wanting to get this invaluable material out before my mind realizes it hasn't gotten nearly enough sleep to keep it running for more than a few token minutes. The bear than begins to growl, and words begin to become a bit intelligible. Something about lights, and clicking, and my impending funeral. Ignoring him, I continue typing away happily.

Once the scene is finished, I save and close Word, shut off the light, and slip back beneath the covers; a self satisfied smile on my lips. I know that when I'm ready to sit down tomorrow, I've got a great jump off point to get the juices flowing.

HA!

The next morning, usually around 10am (once I've got both munchkins napping and I've had my shower), to do my daily writing. I tell myself "ten pages a day - if it's not possible then I'll sit and stare at the blank screen for at least an hour." No internet, no checking the mail, and no reading. Just myself and the computer screen for at least an hour.

That's quite the daunting thing, let me tell you.

So, as I relax, with my cup of tea in hand and blissful silence reigning, I open word.

And wonder what the hell I was thinking.

The jibgerish that seemed so perfect at 3am is complete rubbish by the light of day. OK, maybe not rubbish - the idea for the scene was OK, but it's going to take a lot of work. Not only that...but it's the fricking resolution!!! I'm not even through the first six chapters, and already the characters are speaking to me of the resolution.

Bastards.

So, I put that off to the side since it does me no good when I haven't even finished the beginning of the story yet. I open up the chapter I'm working on, and stare at the two pages I've written for it already. They suck. I know what I want to accomplish in this chapter, but I can't find a way to accomplish it. I rewrite it several times, each version seemingly worse than the last.

I can hear the muses laughing at my expense.

It's about this time that I feel like putting my fist through the laptop screen, and so I resort to the dreaded staring at a blank screen. As if to mock me, the characters end their mute defiance, and tell me all about this great scene that needs to happen next. Yep, it's their first kiss. And, I must admit, I liked the scene very much and it's going to work perfectly. Unfortunately, I need a few scenes/chapters in between. However, since I don't want to lose it, I write the scene anyway.

So, I've accomplished my ten pages, and then some, but I'm still stuck on that blasted chapter I can't seem to write. I tried thinking of a way to get around writing it, but I can't. It's the chapter introducing the heroine and her goals. It's just that every time I do it, the whole thing sounds cheesey and contrived. Maybe I should write that chapter last and write the rest of the book around it.

Eventually it'll come to me...right?