The writing process has so many parts and everyone has different ways of approaching them. Like peeling an orange, there is a beginning and an end, but how to reveal the juicy fruit waiting inside, is entirely up to the writer. However, it’s not always easy to do. This is an entry about that part when the peel gets stuck-commonly known as writer’s block. Because sometimes I feel that the writing process isn’t analogous to peeling a wonderful fruit at all- it’s more like trying to find the beginning on a roll of packing tape. It’s a frustrating situation, and as you search the roll over and over, you just can’t seem to find the place where the tape was last cut. For some reason, that tantalizing edge is glued in place and seems to have magically disappeared.
WRITER’S BLOCK- WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
So, why does it happen? It may sound gruesome but I think, like bombing at the high school prom, hitting a writing wall is telling us something. It’s a canary in the gold mine.
Everyone is different. My experience has been that I get stuck when I’m missing something essential in my work. It can be one of a few things. Maybe I haven’t taken the time and things are left out- there’s information that the reader needs in order to create tension in imagining the narrative and it’s not there. Or maybe I’ve written too much, but I haven’t hit on the right theme. I’ve skipped over parts that need to be improved and developed upon and I haven’t given them space and importance on the page. Basically, I’ve started focusing too much on the finished product and I’ve stream-lined my mind; it’s no longer revving in the right gear for producing results.
SO, WHAT TO DO?
Pinpointing the places that need fixing and figuring out how to do it is definitely the hard part! When it comes to myself, I guess you could say that I take the easy road out. Before I can assess anything, I need some space and so, usually, I abandon ship. I move to another project. I start something new, (like writing a blog, ahem…) or I go back to an old piece of writing and work on that for a while. Sometimes I move to another activity, entirely. There’s nothing like going biking, taking a road trip to see friends, playing a bunch of music, or overloading on shopping to clear my mind from its troubles. Alternative activities don’t always move my brain into the right place for good writing right away, but they do start new roads growing. This lets the kinks in the old ones rest for a while, while they figure themselves out and stop throwing dishes and cutlery over the breakfast table.
AND IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, IF I’M STILL STUCK- LIKE, WE’RE TALKING CRAZY GLUE…
When it’s really bad, I don’t know what to say-all I know is that when a lack of writing becomes a life and death situation, it’s all too daunting. The idea that only I can save myself is all too much pressure. And so, tomorrow is another day! When I’m super-stuck, I look to the past to look to the future: there were good ideas before, there will be good ideas again. And they will come in due time. Like potty-training, they can’t be rushed!
And so, I’ll end with this: writing needs ideas, and ideas are like children: we have to let them grow. And in turn, we need to be childlike to foster them: sometimes the brain says ‘no’ simply because we need to go out and have some fun…and bring that back to our work.
Here are some sites with ideas on creativity and working through hurdles:
