When not to write

or only write horrible things about the person you think you're in love with, so that when you go off them it will have been prophetic.

But if they turn out ot be the love of your life, it can be horribly embarassing. Especially if you're together forever.

I can't write when I'm pissed off. My hands just want to write hate mail.

I DO write when I'm tired and cross. But I've learnt to NOT post straight away and revisit my masterpieces when I'm fresh and calmed down! Amazing how the crapness stands out next day...

I was exhausted when I wrote things, and a couple of those times, I got cherries. Though, the other 30 times, I didn't get so lucky!

same here Neil. Being tired also makes me more negative so I can't see anything in what I've written , therefore highly unlikely to want anyone else to see the rubbish.

never, ever write when you know the last words of your story will be "and i woke up and it was all a dream". More like "I woke up and it was all a nightmare"

Most days. I have executed everything I've written lately including a rewrite of stuff that had been well received before, but needed a tweak imo. Now it is in no mans land, wondering whether to make a dash for the wire and risk a land mine, or stand still and await the sniper shot.

That Bob Newhart sitcom ended like that!

I can more or less never write on request.. or on a specified subject. I think the inspiration points are great and I'm slowly trying to rectify this but it sometimes takes me months to get round to posting by which time another three have flown by. It's a discipline that is very much necessary if you want to make a living writing, I'm sure. I'll keep checking the IP's tho. Also, whenever feelings are very new and fresh they usually look like a load of tripe on paper.. in my experience.

I'm too much the other way. When I don't have a brief I find it difficult to pin my ideas down. I sometimes find it easier to write when I'm annoyed with my day job - then I feel the need to prove that I am capable of doing something else... Doesn't always work though.

i never write when i am bringing home a boeing 737 full of drunken lobster-coloured passengers from tenerife, that's when i have to keep various eyes on the sexy lcd panel that comprises the fly-by-wire system. this is a time not to write. outside of this. anytime is good.

i never write when I'm swimming, or falling out of a plane or asleep thopse are situations to write about, not during.

you also shouldn't write if 1. you have a life threatening conditioning where a single movement of your hands will kill you 2. a maniac is holding a gun to your head as you sit at the word processor and saying "one more word and your dead" otherwise its ok

Yes, when you are being asked to write about the 23-year-old male middle child of a Jewish family who decides to become a Buddhist, and who likes women and beer (see prior thread). Even though I don't think you should limit yourself to writing just "what you know," I do believe some things are beyond research. Like the above.

When the first line of your poem comes out as "can't you see my inner torment, do you know me at all?" The clue to stop was there. The red light is "I love you so much, yet you rip me apart, you bastard!" So yeah, time not to write. That's a time to have a nice cup of tea and rip apart a pillow or two.

Or come up with some subtle metaphors

Don't write when you're cross and tired. It's meant to be biting but it comes out soppy.

Or when you think you're in love when it goes wrong, the thought makes you cringe