WRITER’S BLOCK IS A REAL THING!
It is all about visualization.
I know many of you are thinking something to the effect of “visualization is meditation” or “visualization is just mumbo jumbo.” But, some of you are thinking, “tell me more” because when it comes to getting over writer’s block, you are willing to try anything.
So let’s look at my four foot-tall, seven-foot wide, three-foot deep cinderblock wall again. Sometimes when writer’s block plummets between me and my computer keyboard, I’ll visualize it as a wall of megalithic bricks. I think about what this wall is made of. Yes, megalithic bricks, but what do they symbolize? For each megalithic brick, I visualize writing one task or reason for the blockage on each brick.
For example, one may be that you’re hungry and trying to work instead of eating. One may be guilt for worrying about a deadline to the point of pushing my partner, children, friends away. One may be that you haven’t responded to an email from a colleague, editor, or some other person in my work or personal life. One could even be that you haven’t paid my WiFi bill.
We all have these and other everyday events that can build up and create a wall. When we are worried about them, then it is hard to write. Our minds keep going back to that wall, and that in and of itself can make the wall wider, taller, and deeper than before.
This time I’m going to say the answer is simple because it is, but—and this is a big BUT—it is not simple to do. In fact, I can guess that most of you know what to do, BUT doing it is the hard part. We want to work, not worry, but we worry so we can’t work. We don’t want to stop working to fix the worrying because sometimes what we are worrying about is not something that is easily remedied. Yet, I’m still going to say removing or lessening this wall is easy in concept but hard to accomplish in reality.
So how do we do this? How do we remove those bricks or at least make the smaller?
You are going to chip away one block at a time.
For example, if you have the bill to pay, tell yourself that as soon as you pay this bill, you are allowed to write for two hours or 20 pages. Something like that. Do a task that is worrying, then give yourself a reward of writing.
It sounds too easy, and it may be harder the first time you try it. I’ll be honest about that. But the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
If the brick is megalithic, like guilt over sitting here looking at a blank screen for three days instead of spending time with your family or friends, stop looking at the screen. Contact your friends and make plans. If it is your family, tell them you all are going out for dinner or a movie tonight. Make plans to spend time with them. This will lessen the guilt and you may get a few pages out of it.
Even if you don’t get as much done on your manuscript, article, or web content, it really doesn’t matter. Getting started helps. Then tomorrow, you pick another brick, complete whatever task that brick has written on it, and write even more.
Using this type of visualization doesn’t mean you will never have writer’s block again because I guarantee you will. We all slip, especially when deadlines are looming. We can ignore a bill or task that needs to be completed for just a few more pages or a few more hours of writing. But remember these worries and ignored tasks are building this wall that we are calling writer’s block.
Just do the tasks and watch how much easier it is to write.
In all honesty, with all the authors I’ve worked with, guilt or procrastination has been the biggest issue when it comes to writer’s block. That is not saying this is the only reason for writer’s block, but it is one of the most prevalent. Creativity is another, but that will be discussed next month.
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Content credit: C. Storm
Image credit: Kenny Eliason