Writing Scenes to Outline

It's funny. I have scenes running through my head all day. A trip to the store turns into a fight for life in my head. A walk around the office turns into a treasure hunt. Then I sit down to write them out and suddenly I can't seem to think of them.

I guess I feel writing them out feels so final, or like it has to be perfect the first time. I wonder where to start; funny, when they come to me they just start wherever and don't worry about what is right. It's only when I sit in front of the computer that I have an issue; wondering what others will think, or what one of my English professors would have said about starting here, or phrasing something there.

If I close my eyes though, so it's just me and the characters walking through the scene. Suddenly the scene comes to life on the screen. I don't judge it though since I can't see that it's being written. I live in the scene and forget that my hands are flying over the keys of my keyboard.

Having found this answer to Writer's Block, makes me think back to my childhood and dancing. I used to dance in competitions. If you look down, you can usually see the front row, which in a competition means you can see the judges talking into their microphones. The trick is to look out to the rest of the audience. The lights are so bright, it's just a black room beyond the lights. I made the mistake of looking down once. I totally messed up after doing so. When I looked down, one of the judges seemed to be looking right at me.

The step I was doing at the time was, and is, one of my favorite combinations. I do the combination to this day, walking down the hall. Yet when I saw the judge, my brain froze. Same as if I'm starring at the computer screen. I think about those who may read what I'm writing and the Writer's Block kicks in. I freeze under the pressure. So, now that I found the trick of writing with my eyes closed, I'm hoping to be successful in outlining the story in my head and figure out where it goes.

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