Nicole Jacob
asked
Elizabeth Gilbert:
In terms of writing - what do you do when you hit writer's block? How do you overcome the terrifying act of doing a rewrite for a novel?
Elizabeth Gilbert
If we want to live sane and productive creative lives, I think it's important to dial down the drama, and to try not to use words like "terrifying" when we talk about our creativity. Because it's just writing; it's not an actual war zone. When I start to feel terrified (and sometimes I do!) I ask myself to step out of my grandiosity, and to think for a moment about situations people face in life that are ACTUALLY terrifying. Every day, people in this world face situations that bring them into mortal danger, where their lives and their safety are threatened, and where their families are in terrible peril. Then I compare that person's emotional and physical situation to, say, the trauma of me having to do a rewrite for a novel...well, suddenly my problem doesn't seem so dramatic, after all. It's just writing; nobody's gonna die. Also, if I can remind myself that it doesn't have to be perfect (it doesn't even have to be GOOD sometimes) but that it just has to get finished, I can un-romanticize my holy struggle, and just buckle up my seatbelt and do the work.
More Answered Questions
Erica
asked
Elizabeth Gilbert:
"The Signature of All Things" moved me, I felt so many magical nerves shift as I finished! One curious habit of a couple characters really had me wondering, that of Reverend Welles forgetting that others actually eat and Mr. Pike's proclamation that he could have lived off the sun alone. Were their habits related? Have you known someone that's done this? Is it the human-plants-earth connection the made you include it?
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