WRITER’S BLOCK
As you can imagine from the title of this post, it is primarily intended for writers of any sort. I’m not aware of too many other professions or avocations that have something similar. Perhaps a great hitter in baseball going through a cold streak and striking out a lot. Or maybe an NBA point guard clanging the ball off the rim. But, for this discussion, we’re talking about writers.
First controversial comment: I don’t believe in writer’s block. Certainly not as it is conventionally defined. Are there times when it is difficult to write, when a scene or chapter is not coming out as expected, or at all? Will a writer get to a point in a novel where the action falls dead and the resolution is nowhere in sight? Do you sit in front of your keyboard and just don’t feel like touching the keys at all?
Sure. Absolutely. 100%. But I don’t define that as writer’s block. Those are the difficulties inherent in a creative, intellectual, and emotional process. Stories do not come flowing from one’s brain fluidly, gushing as Niagara Falls, or fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus. We have all encountered these hurdles. While there was a time twenty years ago or so that I just didn’t feel like writing, I determined that was due to a lack of direction rather than a creative blockage.
I have never encountered a time where I was “blocked.” I’m not even certain what that means. I come up with story ideas all the time. I can’t help it. “What if” scenarios. Variations on news articles or non-fiction commentaries. A bizarre encounter with a genre or subject matter. It’s almost the same as my cooking endeavors, bread baking, and sausage making. I can do a quick bread and be satisfied. But a sourdough is going to require a starter and a longer time period. I only have the energy to make three pounds of sausages at a time. Should I choose Italian, bratwurst, or Andouille?
To those writers that feel they suffer from writer’s block, I truly empathize. But I offer this food for thought:
If your beloved grandparent, the one who was always proud of you and encouraged your art, was ill, perhaps terminally so, and you went to visit, and reaching out their hand to touch yours and said “Tell me a story!”, what are you going to do? “Sorry, Grandma, I’m suffering through writer’s block!” “Gee whiz, Grandpa, I haven’t felt like telling stories for quite a few weeks now.”
A harsh example, I know. However, I believe it shows our capacity for story-telling, on the spot, as needed. The tale you tell your beloved grandparent won’t be anything award winning, likely will require the service of an editor, and may not be well formed. But it will be a tale of wild imagination and creativity.
If there are stresses in life that hold you back from pursuing your creative endeavors, work through them to allow yourself both the strength and freedom to create. Also know the act of creation is recuperative as well.
