Writer's Block and Abortion

After finishing Coat Hangers and Knitting Needles, a look at the history of abortion before Roe v. Wade,  including information about:

• The first abortion trial in the US in the 1700s
• Stories of women who had abortions
• Stories of people who lost loved ones because of botched abortions
• Good abortionists
• Bad abortionists
• Fighters for birth control
• Fighters for legalizing abortion
• People and groups that helped women get safe abortions
• Legal cases
• Interviews
• Documentaries  
• A 12 page time table 

I spent the next few months unable to write anything but blogs and emails. I joked that I was really named Donna Quixote in my crusade to show that abortion will never be stopped just like prohibition was a failure to stop the production and drinking of alcohol.

With the help of my daughter, we sent the book to those who would want to overturn the right of abortion. We will continue to do so.

However, after living with this project for almost a year, I was totally drained. I tried rereading a newsletter/blog I had written years ago on Writer's Block http://wisewordsonwriting.blogspot.com/2005/07/. 

It didn't help.

My supportive husband pointed out that we had a very active social life during the summer. It was hot. Still, it was the first time in decades that words were not waiting to flow out of my brain into the computer for stories. The people who peppered my imagination all seemed to be away on holiday and didn't even send postcards.

I might start something, but quickly switched to Facebook, emails, games.

Then it came back. A talk with publisher may have been the trigger or not.

My first goal was to bring out an unpublished work Triple Deckers, about a Boston Irish Catholic family whose life is turned upside down by the Iraq War. I had written it many years ago. Going over it, I saw where it needed to be polished, rewritten or left alone.

It was like the pump in my grandfather's garden. To get it to flow, we had to prime it with a cup of water.

I gave it to Rick to read. He can be a hard critic, but he told me it was the best thing I've written. He also mentioned there were still typos.

I am into a new novel, Day Care about four single but very different women whose daughters are all at the same day care and the support they give each other.

Words are once again waking me up, challenging me to remember them as I walk down the street, and most importantly going from my fingers onto the keyboard.