Writer’s Block (is back…)

So here it is, again, it follows me around like rain clouds stalk cricket matches, like my good friend attracts impossibly drunk women, like Jazz is followed by an involuntary nod of the head and an occasional tap on the knee – yes, writers block is back and this time it means business. This has a habit of happening everytime I write a show. The last time I wrote something slightly successful, Revenge, way back in the mid-naughties (that’s how I spell it), I then didn’t write anything half decent for the next 3 years… Yep, ouch.

The problem stems, I think, from the writers I admire: Alan Ayckbourn, Stewart Lee, Daniel Kitson and more. They all churn work out on a bi-annual basis. I fail to have a new idea on a bi-annual basis. Ayckbourn has written over 70 plays, Stewart Lee manages new shows annually (and they’re always amazing) and as for Daniel Kitson, he’s so confident of his impending creativity that he can put a show on called, and I quote from the Fringe Brochure, “As of 1.52pm GMT on Friday April 27th 2012, this show has no title“, and the copy reads, “A new show by Daniel Kitson“.  ARGHHHH…

The problem isn’t ideas, I have ideas of things to write, the problem is motivation. For Revenge I was forced by the American playwright Donald Freed to write 8 – 12 pages a week on a new play, and 6 weeks later I had a new play. Similarly with Floating I had motivation, my sister knew she wanted to act in the show, i had a deadline, a bit of pressure and voila, new play. SO where do I get this pressure from, creating artifical pressure doesn’t work, you can’t fool your own mind unless drunk or stoned and that’s not conductive to writing. Commissioned writers are very lucky, they have the deadlines, the motivation to turn off Football Manager, or repeats of The Big Bang Theory…

What do I do…?

P.S. Still waiting on one review for Floating… Their website’s had problems uploading images so it’s delayed..