A Writer’s Life: Writer’s Block

Although I may force myself to sit at my desk with my fingers hovering above my keyboard, the ideas don’t always seem to flow. Rather, let me correct that, the ideas for the project I am working on seem to be elusive. So here I sit repeatedly telling myself to stop procrastinating when in reality I am just looking for inspiration.

The dreaded “Writer’s Block”, the blight of all writers, seems to happen so often when we are closing in on a deadline or we have that specific need to show some written progress. It’s something we just can’t afford to have happen. For some a block can last for months or at least for days. What can we do? Our minds seem frozen. Our fingers turn stiff. Our pages remain blank.

We all have different methods we use to spark the imagination and unleash our creativity. There are those who welcome the looming deadline and increased pressure but then later wonder if they couldn’t have done a better job if they had given themselves more time.

I use a variety of methods, some seem more effective than others and yet I never know which method will work best until I try. Music with a good strong beat, in my case, it is usually country. At least if it doesn’t get me writing, I’m enjoying the sounds. If I turn the music up just loud enough I can literally feel it “grab” me and move me along, similar to riding waves. Then the words begin to flow. If I am working on fiction, a good ballad about the theme (ie: love, friendship, life) also spurs me on.

I read anything and everything. Words go in and they must come out. GIGO, garbage in – garbage out (an old computer term) applies very well here. Sometimes when I am doing really major projects with a lot of writing I feel like “Johnny 5” from that old movie “Short Circuit”…Need Input! When I write I don’t worry about proper spelling or grammar, editing can be done later. Once I start writing I refuse to stop the flow for something as mundane as “E before I except…”.

A creative writing teacher I had in high school emphatically told all of the students “There is NO such thing as Writer’s Block!” Her attitude was that even if you couldn’t write WHAT you were supposed to write, you could write SOMETHING. Once the words started flowing from your pen (hey, this was in MY school days), they wouldn’t stop and eventually you would get on track. So even if all you are doing is describing the room you are in and wind up throwing out nine words out of every ten, you can write anytime.

So, let’s get writing.