Melissa Barker-Simpson

Rack your brains 

Let’s start with a scenario…you’re scribbling (or tapping) away, totally in the zone and the characters are behaving themselves so it’s smooth sailing. You’re totally going with the flow, your mind is racing, the words pouring forth, and you start to wonder why you ever thought writing was so hard. Then the inevitable happens, you stumble over a simple word choice and reality hits you like a slap upside the head. 

I’m over dramatising, of course, but it happens more often than we like. The sudden and overwhelming desire to find the perfect word to describe a feeling, communicate meaning, or simply connect a reader to the scene. Flicking through a thesaurus doesn’t always help because the word or expression likes to hide in the deep recesses of our minds – on the tip of the tongue (or should that be fingers?) 

We can be perfectionists when it comes to our work. We want to get it right – to do justice and reflect what is in our hearts. Sometimes we are so passionate about the tale we’re weaving, we trip ourselves up over the little things.  

As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes we just need to take a step back. Use the tools we’ve developed and hope the answer will come to us. When it does, it will probably be one of those inopportune times I talked about. Like deep in the night, when our minds wake up and we’re grateful there’s a notepad beside the bed so all is not lost! 

Thanks for stopping by

Mel