Eyeballs

[primsong]

Why oh why does my ability to write hinge on whether or not someone is watching me? The horrible and inconvenient Power of the Eyeballs freezes my muse like a deer in the headlights, even if the person possessing the Eyeballs is not of the critical nature, or sometimes even really paying attention. Perhaps I need a hermitage in the hills just so I can finally finish all of my WIPs.

How do you deal with the Stare of Doom when trying to write?

Comments

[john_amend_all]

I don't. My Muse is fickle enough when I'm in a quiet room on my own; I can, sometimes, write in the presence of others provided no-one's talking and no-one's looking at my screen, but I definitely prefer solitude. Which I have a great deal of, as it happens.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

I can write with someone else in the room, but only if I have to... and only if they aren't watching me directly and are occupied with something else. Right now your solitude sounds lovely to me!

Anyone who can write with small children around is amazing to me, I had a 15-year dry spell while my kids were small and didn't re-emerge into writing again until the youngest was in grade-school. I expect the constant interruption and someone always watching (even someone small) had a lot to do with that atrophy of the muse.

[john_amend_all]

Having thought some more about this, I think it's at least partly because of the feeling that someone who sees what I'm writing, can see what I'm thinking.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

What a fascinating thought... yes, I think you may be onto something there. That process of creation is so delicate and *personal*, perhaps an analogy may be having someone listening in on another line while speaking on the phone, except the person I'm speaking to is also me.