The Fiction of Writer’s Block
Seriously. Just don’t believe in writer’s block. Like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. (I do believe in the Tooth Fairy, but that’s a long story for another article.)
Yesterday I didn’t blog because my blogging time disappeared into the world of Twitter via Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck has an interesting feature where you can follow certain phrases, so that any time someone Tweets one of those phrases, you get to see it in real time. It’s better than watching TV. I settled on “writers” and “literary agents”. The “literary agents” one turned out to be a dud, because it was mostly people tweeting things like “I just wrote a book. Anyone know a literary agent?” Uhhh, yeah. There’s so many things wrong with that I don’t know where to start.
The former though… an intersting thing. While I watched, I noticed about half the posts on “writers” were actually about “writers block”. I’ve been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and that’s longer than some of you have been alive, I’d guess, and I have never experienced writer’s block.
I’ve had bad days, lazy days, crabby days, headaches, days laced with procrastination and days when the sunshine beckoned and even more commonly, days when the pile of laundry just wouldn’t wait any longer because I was in danger of being buried alive under a collapsed sock-tower. But I have never in multiple decades had writer’s block. If I’m honest, I’m not even sure what it is. So I googled it.
It seems the most common complaint of blockees is “lack of inspiration”. What the hell? Well, there’s your trouble right there. To write you do not NEED inspiration. Oh sure it feels good, and invariably when I write under its influence I write better, but you’ve got your cart and your horse all bass-ackwards.
Writing leads to inspiration. Not vice versa.
So, sure, if you want, try the “cures” like invention strategy, or writing prompts or whatever will get you writing. But I stand by my original assertion and just say this: Anything that can be cured with a widget isn’t a real thing.
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So it’s a state of mind that – can this be the truth? – says you really don’t want to write any more, right?
Jen (just off to do some writing before I fritter the day away reading other people’s blogs)
I totally agree! In fact, I just posted something about writer’s block a few weeks ago. Entitled, “Writer’s Block, What’s That?” I don’t believe in writer’s block. I believe in procrastination and lack of inspiration and major distraction. But there’s always SOMETHING to write. Enough said.
ass to chair, fingers to keyboard, or around pen/pencil/crayon… write
should be inspiration enough
I’ve never believed in writer’s block either. In fact, I’ve been on panels at cons about this subject. My oh my the arguments I’ve gotten into over this “art” of writing.
If you’re a full time bill paying mortgage owning writer, “writer’s block” is a luxury.
Sure there are days I don’t “feel” like writing or the writing drips out slower than molasses in January, but it’s always in there somewhere. I’m never short of ideas and since my first contract, oh, many books ago, I always work from some kind of outline.
Advice I’ve given to authors who have “writer’s block” is to change projects.
Instead of staring at the empty screen searching for the perfect next sentence, write your story out of order. Or do a bit of PR for work that’s out all ready. Write a query letter or proposal. Work on a different book/story and then go back to the “blocked” one. Give yourself some kind of visual exercise such as writing about those birds on the back fence that scream at you while you type.
I would love to see my welder husband explain to his boss that he has “welder’s block!”
The biggest answer I give when asked about writer’s block is that I like to eat, be warm, and have electricity. Writer’s block will not provide these things for me!
The biggest cure for “writer’s block” is visualizing “check in bank!”
Writer’s Block definitely exists, and it is not only about a lack of inspiration. I know plenty of writers who know what they want to write and are desperate to write but can’t. They sit in front of their computers every day and take a notepad everywhere with them but can’t seem to get the words down. Some of these writers I know are quite depressed about this, and depression and anxiety itself are causes relating to writer’s block.
There’s also that fear of not being good enough. I actually believe people who say that it doesn’t exist are very ignorant – just because you’ve never experienced it, how can you possibly know it doesn’t exist? I myself am aware of people not having a problem churning out words on the spot – I myself don’t have a problem with this, but I’m not going to be ignorant towards what other writers go through.
I think depression and fear about not being good enough are likely symptoms of problems deeper than writer’s block.
My point is that if writing is your full time job that pays the rent, you don’t have the luxury of not working, just as a welder or a doctor or mechanic or waitress doesn’t have the luxury of not working to pay the bills.
Sure writing can be hard. There’s lots of times I stare at the blank page for days, knowing I have a deadline, and I’ll scream and cry (ask my family) and worry about writing garbage or that I’ll never have another idea again, but I don’t consider that writer’s block.
I don’t expect anyone to hold my hand either when I’m going through my personal insecurity author traumas unless I’m paying a therapist. This is the profession I chose to work in and I have to deal with my “stuff” the same as anyone else.
That’s kind of the angle I’m coming from. I don’t think it’s ignorant. I think that you may be describing people who have deeper issues than trying to write and no matter what their profession would be, they would have problems meeting their deadlines and obligations. Luckily there are lots of doctors and medications to help people with depression and self-esteem issues. We livein a good time, where the medical profession and the public are growing to understand these challenges.
You may have a point there Sephera. I just feel a lot of sympathy towards people who are passionate about their art and are extremely talented, but aren’t able to reach their full potential because of their personal issues. I guess the thing I would want them to know is that they’re not alone – a lot of creative people go through similar experiences.
Hi Janine,
You are right on the money with that. I know so many people that would be so fantastic in a creative world, but they can’t pull it together to make it happen.
No one with depression or any other issues should ever feel alone anymore. Though I know with depression (I myself suffer from S.A.D. and have been close buddies with clinical depression my whole life) part of the problem is feeling alone and that no one understands anything. It’s so very sad. I know a young man, a BRILLIANT boy in his early twenties, that hung himself in the fall because he couldn’t cope with the blackness.
I think the creative drive straddles a fine line between sanity and insanity sometimes. It can be the one thing that keeps us sane or the one thing that pushes us over the edge.
One nice thing I learned in University in my abnormal psychology course is that there is no real definition of “normal.”