A BLAH-G IS BORN!

You know when you hit the fridge over an over again hoping something new will magically appear, and it doesn’t? Those wilted spinach leaves and that hairy-lipped carton of orange juice are still the only things in there! Well, that’s what trying to find words feels like today: a maddening cycle of hope and futility.

My brainwaves have short-circuited. Reduced to a blinking cursor; an anxious heartbeat flipping the bird at my lack of creativity.

Flip… flip… flip… 

As a professional writer it’s a terrifying place to be. All I’m good for are words and ideas. What am I supposed to do when I run out??

And yet, I am at my favorite sushi restaurant typing away. When I sat down I had NOTHING to write. Still, I forced myself to do it. And behold–A blah-g is born!

Okay, so technically, this is not about anything. But it’s also about everything–everything that being a writer is. Which is showing up and writing anyway, especially when the fridge is empty.

When you do, something filling always appears.

sushi

TTYW,

Lisi

6 Comments

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  • deseraemcg says:

    Thank you for reminding me I need to write today. Force myself to write. There are things in my head and in my heart that aren’t being shared because of some wacky combination of fear and laziness. Need to just put it on the page. Stop resisting. Just show up and put it on the page.

    <3
    Deserae

  • Ena says:

    Dearest Lisi,

    As one of your biggest fans since The Clique was born, through using my best impression of Massie Block, puh-lease write another Clique book!
    Perhaps when everyone is reunited again, perhaps recently graduated from college, or high school… as long as everyone is reunited again because I’m DYING to know how they turn out in the future.
    If this isn’t possible maybe you can email me (enaricoque@gmail.com) what you think would happen to the characters (I hope this isn’t too much to ask).

    I heart you.

  • ( I originally wrote this as a reply to your 35 is the new 50 post but I had to switch browsers and I think you might see it better here. Plus I agree with your point here, But you’re so not out of ideas yet…)

    LISI!
    You can’t stop now! I think I can say for all of the girls reading this and myself that you and the clique are an iconic part of our upbringing. I remember bouncing in by ballet flats and lipgloss in middle school at the checkout line in target getting my hands on your next argyle book. My mom made a rule that I couldn’t start reading until we got home or I’d just be silent in the minivan and she’d have no one to talk to. Your descriptive writing style shaped mine in the way Shakespeare or the classics never will. Which I think is pretty cool.
    I think the hardest thing is that I’m not a middle school girl in the Midwest anymore. I’m twenty and living in Sydney, Australia to study for a bit. PS thank you for naming the boys in Alphas after these cities or else I would never remember them. I think that’s why we’re feeling this weird disconnect. The world feels very different than it did when it was 2007. I’m not worried about fitting in with people cooler than me (hello, I already know I’m Massie and everyone secretly wants to be like me… even when that’s not true that’s what I tell myself) and crushes feel different. Like I acknowledge that boys are people instead of just objects for crushes and jokes, and looks are the easiest of the requirements to meet. Heartbreak feels different now too. I feel like the brand obsession that the clique critiques isn’t gone, but with the hipster movement we just don’t covet the killer labels the same way. I have a different story to tell now than I did then and I think you do too. Somehow I feel like less glaring eyes are on me than when I was in middle school (maybe like your blog?) and so I do more experimenting, I’m bolder and I’m nicer to people because I know what it’s like to feel weird. Maybe you could tell us a little bit more about what it feels like to be changing or in a changing relationship maybe with your reader/fan base or your craft of writing or your romantic or platonic relationships?
    I don’t know, but you’re incredible and so Lisi, which is what I love. So keep being you, but be the now you, not the 2007 you.
    Also hmu if you have any outlining workshops because I still don’t get it and I keep failing at writing lol.

  • Danielle says:

    Me in a nutshell. I try to write everyday but most times I just give up. I’m gonna follow this advice and write something.

  • Kaitlyn says:

    This is me when I sit down to write most days and I force myself to write. I just try my best to get in sync with my characters and let them do the talking. I’ve reached the point where I think of my characters as real people and the voices in my head won’t shut up… some people call that crazy but some call it being a writer.
    If you need inspiration for next week’s blog, you should make a list of books that you think all writers should read.
    <3 Kaitlyn

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