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How do you get past writer's block?
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Arghh...I've had it for a few weeks.
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Sitting in front of the computer and cursing a lot doesn't help writer's block as much as you'd think.
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Neither does eating a whole bar of chocolate.
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well, i deal with writer's block by reading a good book. it doesn't ALWAYS work, but i get some cool ideas!
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Make yourself write. If it's junk you can delete it later, but nothing gets the juices flowing like pushing boldly forward.
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That's what I've been doing today, Michele, and it feels great!
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Personally, I like reading a good book, like Snowfoot. I get some awesome ideas by doing that. Watching movies helps me too.
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I've had a few bad bouts in my life. I don't write for a living so I have this luxury but I found it helps to work on something else and then return to the project later, this is something John Irving believes strongly in too, because you'll return to the work with fresh eyes and a new perspective.
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An excerpt from the section titled "The Myth of Writer's Block" in my book,
The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write...
"There is no writer’s block. There is only fear. When we stare at the blank page, the only marks on it the beads of saltwater sweat that drip from our stressed, frustrated brows, we are not experiencing a lack of talent. We are experiencing a fear so primal it has probably been with us at least since childhood. ...
"Why do you feel blocked? Because you fear to travel where your pen would guide you. Because you’re afraid to surrender to the unknown gifts that await you. Because you’re afraid to let go of all the controls that bind you to a place that feels safe but isn’t.
"Meet Annie. Annie was in her late fi fties when she attended her first class of mine. Short, with close-cropped graying hair, she had a pixie’s frame but lacked a pixie’s spark.
"'I want to write a memoir,' she announced when we introduced ourselves, each word measured, controlled. 'But I have writer’s block. I have had it for a decade.'
"She struggled with the early exercises, struggled against the controls she had placed on her self-expression. She wanted to avoid going where her pen was taking her, wanted to force her pen in other directions.
"Yet as she surrendered to her pen and, perforce, to that pixie part of herself that was now, at last, finding expression, she had everyone in the room laughing so hard at the absurdities of her Earth Mother alter ego, we couldn’t stop crying.
"Annie, and that’s not her real name, didn’t have writer’s block. She was afraid to embrace the part of herself that was light, funny, bizarre and uncontrollable. Once she did, her self-described block dissolved in a rush of daily writing — just for the pleasure of seeing where it would take her, just
for the joy of surrender."
Fear isn't the only cause of writer's block, but it is a profound and primal one.
Other possibilities (both covered in
my book) include
• timing -- perhaps you need a break to catch up with material that is more advanced than you are
• the right idea v. a good idea -- perhaps what you're trying to write isn't where your passion lies. Perhaps it's just a good idea that's anyone's for the taking, not the right idea for you right now.
You'll find other free excerpts from the book at
www.calltowrite.com and other writing tips and inspiration at
www.thevoiceofyourmuse.com.
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Well said, Mark David. Personally I feel like fear is the root of all resistance. If you can find it within yourself of be kind and patient with yourself (now there's the trick), you can move beyond your own restrictions.
I've certainly experienced a stop in creative energy due to a "wrong" choice in story direction, but it doesn't feel the same way writer's block does.
My favorite way to deal with writer's block is to spoil myself with a fun activity that stimulates me - a hike by myself, a day at a beautiful park, cooking my favorite meal, even a simple walk and the juices start to move a little. I also write morning pages daily - this really helps to move the juices forward, while also allowing those fears to relax as they are articulated (and clarity takes hold). And meditation daily. That's my newest addition, and its an extremely powerful tool to life. If you can bridge the gap between wanting something, feeling you must accomplish something, to simply accepting and being present with joy, the transformation into writing is, well, shockingly effortless.
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Another technique I find useful, which is related to what you just described, Ann, is to alter my routine and break whatever my daily pattern is. It can be, as you described, doing something fun. It can also be changing where/when/how I write.
Writing in a different room or in a cafe instead of at home...writing longhand instead of on the computer...taking a break to go for a walk...
Some days, when I was working on my novel
The MoonQuest, (I lived in Nova Scotia then) and needed a more dramatic break from old patterns to break through a blocked feeling, I would drive over North Mountain to Baxter Harbour on the Bay of Fundy. There, as the Atlantic surf crashed on the rocky Nova Scotia shore, I sat in the car or on a boulder and let the ocean tell me what to write next. A one-day change of habit and venue was all it took to put me back on track.
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For me, the best way to overcome writer's block, is to ask for inspiration. I ponder and meditate which helps me see all the unimportant stuff in my life as just that: unimportant. Inspiration comes so much more easily to me when my mind is clear, and when I'm at peace with myself, others and God.
Writing my morning pages (if you've read Julia Cameron's
The Artist's Way, you'll know what I mean) gets rid of so much of my mind clutter. By the time I get to page three, I know where I'm going with my day, or my writing.
Like you Ann and Mark David, I love to break up my writing with doing something different: pulling my kite out of the back of my car to fly when it's windy, going for a walk, calling my sisters, my mother, and friends, or coming here on goodreads!
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message 13:
by deleted member
05/18/2008 12:49PM
I've had serious writers block for quite sometime. Though just recently I have been forming stories in my head. Sad thing is the moment that happens, I have nothing to write it all down with. :[
Talk about bad luck, I can never remember it all!
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Sometimes just writing whatever comes to mind is a great way to overcome writer's block. Today I'm just going to sit in front of the computer and start writing--after I've done my morning pages.
This is for Ahh: that's the worst when you don't have anything with you to write down those ideas that come into your head!
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Here is the link to a website page with creative ideas to help you get past writer's block. I found out about the website through Kylee. I haven't done any of the suggestions, but they are worth taking a look at.
http://www.languageisavirus.co...
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When I get a case of writers block I put what I'm working on aside and work on another project. I'm currently working on 5 books. Every so often I come back to the story I was originally working on to see if the block is gone.
G W Pickle
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In response to the post by Mark David regarding "The Voice of Your Muse", I just want to say thank you for the insight. The whole post has given me clarity as to what it is I've been doing to myself. I haven't written in over a year because I thought that "I lost my talent". When looking at my words on the page, I thought that they didn't make any sense so I'd crumble the pages and toss them. Now I realize I shouldn't have done that at all. I should have allowed the words to have their own place in that moment. I could kick myself now, but we live and learn. Thank you again for taking the time to post this here I needed to see this. When I get home, I am going to let the pen go in the direction it wants.
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Bravo, Charron!
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You know how J.R.R. Tolkien dealt with writers block? Whenever he got stuck, he took the paper out of his typewriter, threw it to the side and started over.
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Lol!
I just keep imagining in my head what I might want to happen. It might take a few moments or days! I'm at writers block right now...thinking of how to make it not sound cheesy...^-^
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by watching the sky.
The clouds, the sunrise, sunset, stars, the lot.
Good ideas!
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message 22:
by
Mark David
(last edited 07/16/2008 04:04PM)
07/16/2008 04:03PM
For a whole new perspective on writer's block, check out this blog post about author Howard Engel:
http://thevoiceofyourmuse.com/...
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Hi Mark saw this on FB thanks for sharing it.
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Hi:
I seldom get writer's block. I don't know why I don't, but when I do, I simply walk away from the computer. I find something else to do like going to my pool for a little while. Since I live in San Diego now, I can go to my pool until late October sometimes longer.
I also sometimes pick up the book I'm reading. I find this works for me. If I just sit at the computer and worry it only gets worse.
Arlette
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