What Is The Problem?

I have a lovely writing accountability partner {that I simply must introduce you to, sometime} who gets 'dailys' {because I have to check in and tell her that I wrote, you see}. A lot of the time it's a quick "nothing to report" or "made so-many words." But over the past few days, I've been turning in low times and slightly depressed comments. An in-person brainstorm session was suggested, and then I decided to email her the "problem."

This is what I typed in OpenOffice:

• WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
• The scene has no action. Too much dialogue, and nothing happening. The only tension is emotional.
• SOLUTION?
• Add physical tension.
• How do I add physical tension without lessening the emotional tension or taking away from the dialogue?

There was a lot more to it than that, me dialoguing with myself on the progression of the new chapters. But the amazing thing was, just by writing it all out like that, I got answers. Just writing down exactly what the problem was, was a mind-clearer in the extreme.

It's funny; I've read Dale Carnegie. I know that writing down one's troubles is a huge step in finding solutions. And yet I so often forget it. Why write them down when you're busy finding a solution?

Let me tell you - writing them down gets you the solution. It just comes. It happens when I journal angsty things in my journal; almost all of those entries end with hope and solutions and confidence for the future. And when you write down your writing troubles, the solution will often appear. I don't know why. It just does.

So if you're stuck, go write down why you're stuck. And then go from there...