I have been a professional writer for 30 years now. There have been periods during that time when I have churned out the words; at others I have been too busy editing other people’s words to write my own; and on bad days I would wake up and realise I was a writer who wasn’t writing.
Writer’s block. We’ve all suffered from it at some point in our lives, whether or not we’re wordsmiths. I experienced the greatest block not when I was on deadline but when I was writing a book. No one had commissioned me to write this book so I was doing it for myself, ie there was no deadline.
Sometimes the words would cascade from my fingertips, but on other days I would barely be able to squeeze out half a page. As the book was a memoir, and some of it was intensely personal, I often re-experienced some of the painful emotions associated with the memories.
I now understand what George Orwell meant when he said: “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon which one can neither resist nor understand.”
In the end it took me five years to write the book. When I’d finished, there were no feelings of triumph; actually I felt rather flat. But the process had often felt like therapy, in a good way, and I always said that was more important than the book being published.
The book remains unpublished but it has given me an insight into writer’s block and what to do when you hit the brick wall. Writer’s block is a form of resistance and this can hijack you in any creative pursuit, not just writing. Here’s what I’ve learnt.
1. Don’t sit and stare at a blank page or screen for too long. If nothing is coming to you, don’t distract yourself with displacement activities – go for a walk.
2. Give yourself permission to sit quietly and do absolutely nothing. If you rest and allow your mind to wander, to daydream, those are the moments in which you find inspiration.
3. Be mindful of counterproductive thoughts like “I can’t do this”, “I don’t have an original idea in my head”, “who would want to look at what I’ve written/painted/made” and so on. Allow the thoughts to arise but let them go without buying into them.
4. If your head is stuffed full of thoughts and judgments about what you should or must do, get a notebook and spew them out on to paper. Don’t edit, just let it all out. This works particularly well first thing in the morning if you need to clear your head before starting to write/paint/craft.
5. If you’ve tried everything and still nothing is coming out, just leave it be. You cannot force yourself to be creative. Trust that the ideas will come in their own good time. The wisdom is there inside you.
That’s my take on it – here’s what leading coach Michael Neill has to say on the subject. Now go forth and create!
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