I don’t believe in writer’s block.

by

The other day a friend of ours brought up the notion of bloggers & writer’s block.

Unaware my life is Groundhog Day she asked, when I touched on a topic similar to one I’d before, if I were blocked:

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Her comment sparked a few thoughts.

First, as I’ve learned about myself with assertions that aren’t correct, I didn’t feel defensive.

(Ive realized when my initial reaction to something is to grow *defensive* the other person may, indeed, be spot-on in what s/he is stating.Ā  This has been life-altering for me.)

The thought process above sparked a fantastic teaching moment about defensiveness that morning with the child (thank you).

Next, and also most likely not her intent, the comment facilitated conversations with writer-friends.

Her remark caused me to realize as I glanced at my blog’s editorial calendar & looked at my own not-jam-packed-but-still-enough-for-me life calendar:

I don’t believe in writer’s block.

Or blogger’s block.

I’ve seen bloggers Tweet or Facebook questions along the lines of:

“I cant think of a thing to write about. Anyone have any questions for me? Anything you’d like to see me write about?”

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My reaction in all these circumstances is simple:

What’s in your heart? What’s your passion? What intrigues you? That’s what we want to read!

I don’t believe in writer’s block.

For me the fleeting I’ve not nary an idea in my head thought is a quick fix.

Listen, engage, try new things, revisit old stuffs.

And return to tell the stories.

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I don’t believe in writer’s block.

For me the very phrase (in the world of blogging and non-fiction) is an excuse.

For me the very phrase is indicative of laziness.

Writing is a mindset.

It’s arriving at “work” ready to create and story-tell.

It’s living each day with the backdrop of what tale can I tell today?

It’s capturing ideas every moment of every day and allowing them to guide you where you need to go.

It doesn’t mean there wont exist a pattern to your life–it means you flow with the repetition and allow it to shape you.

I don’t believe in writer’s blogger’s block.

Do you?

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Comments

  2. I would love to write some day and because of that I walk around with a notebook recording the stories I see so I don’t get as blocked.

  3. Nope. I never run out of things to write, say, express. I may sometimes be scared to put myself and thoughts “out there” but that’s usually the best stuff.

  4. There’s always something to say! That I strongly believe. It’s whether or not it’s what you want to share with the world….But there is *always always always* something to talk about. šŸ˜‰ Great post!

  5. I’m going to go back to “x begets x,” and apply it to writing. And add that for me, the best ideas always flow on a run and on those rare occasions where I don’t have something to say, I don’t!

  6. While I always find something to write about, I cannot say that I express it as eloquently as you! I certainly agree with you in that I can’t quite relate when I hear/see people say that. In my mind, there is always something to write about.

    • oh.
      Intriguing comment as I think that is it for me as well.
      When I am not present.

  8. I can always write for 5 or 10 minutes. A good day will bring a longer writing session, but I can always get something out if I need too. It won’t always be good but it gets my thoughts out and gives me a place to start the next time I sit down.

  10. Like a child who is afraid of the dark, I sometimes believe in writer’s block. Then I go outside into nature, or observe, as you suggest and it’s like turning on the lights and seeing that what I thought was writer’s block was really not that at all. I am always amazed that there are new stories to tell, and that I can come up with new ideas. Your words give me more confidence– why should I be surprised? Thank you for being my nightlight.

  12. I always have something to share and write about… it is getting over the nervousness about actually SHARING your heart that is the biggest hump for me. SO… it is often easier to write the fluff (surfacy) stuff that I ‘think’ my readers want to hear/read… but in reality they enjoy hearing my heart more.

  13. It’s all in the mind of the writer, I would say. All depends what you want to write about.

    Some people just blather on and I would rather they didn’t, perhaps.

    Quantity vs quality? There is that argument again.

    I can ‘judge’ with my DELETE key.

  15. I don’t consider myself a writer but a jabber or blabber of what I am thinking at the time. I think true writers like yourself do what is in this post but us others.. we may just get blocked at times… šŸ™‚ It does not come as easy….

  17. Hi Carla! I do believe in writer’s block….but like you I see it as an excuse that we use when we can’t come up with something we really and truly want to write about. I do not believe writer’s block is this dark force keeping us from writing though–it’s us–pure and simple. Fortunately I learned long ago that I could write on demand when necessary and that as a continually curious person I could ALWAYS find something to write about. Is is always brilliant? No. But I can ALWAYS write. I think we need to get to that point in ourselves to just write and know that it is good enough. That’s why I like the idea of “done is better than perfect.” ~Kathy

  19. I notice on the days that I “don’t have anything to write about”, it’s because I’ve been entirely too negative about things and I’ll feel like I’m just bitching. I do let the bitchy posts fly every once in a while as a venting tool.

    A lot of times, I also don’t feel like things that have happened or things that I’m feeling warrant an entire post. That’s when I head to Facebook to share my life.

  21. Pondering.

    I think you’ve made a good point here. If we ever have to ask “what should I write about?”, then that’s a good indication that we need to either just sit down and write and see what happens, OR we need to get up, get out, do something, before returning to the writing table.

    And I agree that “writer’s block” can be an excuse… sure, there might be occasions when we aren’t our most creative, or our writing isn’t as good as it has been at other times, but we still have the ability to write!

    (And this is especially evident when dealing with deadlines. No such thing as writer’s block in that case ;))

  23. I think it’s more of a “good writing” block. Your inner editor keeps telling you that whatever you’re about to type is not good enough. This paralyzes your fingers.

    Best advice I ever got is to just start typing. “I don’t know what to write. There aren’t any good ideas in my head. Look at the way the dog is sleeping. I’m hunger. I wish the weather would get warmer…”

    By forcing your fingers to move, you can break the connection. Then, just start writing while your fingers are moving. When done, go back and remove the first paragraph or two.

  24. Hmmm. So much to respond to! First of all, I have been re-reading it all morning and I still cannot decipher what that blogger comment meant (in the box in your post) meant. Am I dense? But whatever, it made no sense to me.

    Secondly, about being “blocked.” I don’t think it’s simply about being lazy. Sure, there’s always SOMETHING to write about. But in a situation where one is writing about something specific (cough- ahem – I mean, like in my memoir) there can be a block that is not about laziness, but about avoidance. Because maybe the topic is something painful, or hard to face, or just damn unpleasant. And sometimes one does not have the fortitude or the willingness to GO THERE on a particular day. Or for a week or month or more.

    I think when one is blogging, and the subject matter is wide-open, sure, there is always something to write about. But I don’t think it’s laziness.

    I think it’s fear, it’s unwillingness, sometimes it’s shame. I remember once reading that if a fitness blogger stops blogging, it means they’ve fallen off the fitness wagon. I scoffed at that at the time. But then when it happened to me, I realized I did not want to blog about my pity party or my struggle, over and over. It wasn’t laziness. It was shame and avoidance.

    And I think it’s always a choice. It’s always about priorities. It’s about not choosing to blog or write, and choosing other things. Which will have consequences. If I choose not to write for six months, it means I’m not going to finish my book, or I’m not going to have blog followers, or whatever. But it’s always a choice.

    I guess I don’t believe in “laziness.”

    • It didn’t make sense to you maybe because you never read the first “begets” post awhile back that I was referring to.

  25. Nope, I don’t believe in it either. Sometimes we don’t ‘flow’ though. But if we work at it/reconfigure long enough, we do.

  27. My biggest problem isn’t having things to say, it’s in knowing how to convey the points I really want to make! I don’t always feel like my posts come across the way I really wanted them to.

  28. Sometimes the words don’t flow easily and I find myself writing and throwing away and starting over and throwing away… And then I go for a run and I’ve got plenty to say and often do a mind dump onto “paper” (ok, computer. I used to always write rough drafts on paper, but blogging has broken that habit) and then have to break it into multiple pieces…

  29. I love your insight on defensive reactions! As for “reruns” you can hear the same thing twice, but since you are in a different place the second time around, it can have a different meaning. As for writer’s block, the only reason I’m still blogging is because I can’t shut myself up. šŸ˜‰

  30. I don’t suffer from “idea” block–I do though, struggle to organize my thoughts into interesting, readable material. That’s where I feel blocked at times. Getting up and taking a walk or a swim helps–and writing through the blocks helps tremendously. For me, it’s a lot about moving past the fear of not putting something out that’s perfect.

  32. I guess I don’t believe in writer’s block either. I believe in practice. I know that when I’m out of practice, when I haven’t been showing up for my morning pages, or when I stop blogging because life gets in the way, it so much more difficult to make the words flow. If I have been away from my morning pages for a few days, I struggle to get words down. But if I’m consistent, it’s hard to stop. Right now I’m in a lull for various reasons – sickness, injury, increased demands at work…and that makes it difficult to show up for my writing. But it’s always a choice. I’ve been choosing poorly as of late.

  35. Thank you- Thank you! I am going to put that quote of yours, “Whatā€™s in your heart? Whatā€™s your passion? What intrigues you? Thatā€™s what we want to read!” on a card above my computer. Sometimes, I avoid writing about passionate topics because I don’t feel like dealing with the constant debate and offending people… but that’s just silly, esp. because I’m personally not trying to offend anyone. (I’m thinking of topics like why I am a vegetarian…) I write best when I let my heart speak.

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