Thursday, November 29, 2012

TO HELL WITH YOU WRITER’S BLOCK


So, what do you do when you have writer’s block? You write about writer’s block of course!

In all of the time I have been writing there are two kinds of blocks I’ve run into. Type 1 is where you just plain and simple can’t write anything. Even a subject to write about escapes you. Type 2 is when you have everything you need to put a great piece together but the words just won’t come out right.

I guess for me, my latest episode of writer’s block leans more toward Type 1. I had a subject six hours ago when I started working on this blog post but decided early on that it was a subject better left until we know each other a bit better. So I was back to square one. Usually I can pull a subject out of thin air and go with it, but not this time. I sat there for 5.5 hours with nothing. Not one damn idea. Then I started to laugh because it was all so ridiculous that I was sitting there acting like a crazy woman for five and a half hours trying to decide what ideas and words to put on paper.  That is when it hit me, this blog post that I was trying so hard to write would be about the ridiculousness of writer’s block.

I sit there on any given day and think of 20 or 30 different subjects I might want to write about. If I can, I write them down and if not, I pray that I can remember them when I need to.  Then comes time to write, and all of the subjects I wrote down don’t appeal to me anymore so I am stuck trying to pull these other ideas out of my brain which frankly doesn’t work quite as well as it did before I had five kids. Seriously, pregnancy brain never truly disappears, it just morphs into mommy brain. Times five for me which equals MUSH.

Okay, so once I have determined that I have writer’s block, I try to find out why. Am I over stressed? Do I have too many mundane things on my mind? Are the kids bothering me? Am I on a deadline because of an appointment or previous commitment? If one of these applies, then I try to solve the problem. If I can’t, then I try other things. I’ve meditated, prayed and tried a change of scenery. Deep Breathing has sometimes helped too. If all goes well, I start writing and don’t stop until I choose to. If not, it is time to smack my head with my pen, or my cell phone, or my hand. And if that doesn’t work, I give it a break for awhile.

Yes, writers block can be so stressful and I guess smacking myself about the head is a bit extreme, but I’ve known and read about people who have really gone all out to end this awful state of mind.

I heard of one woman who would go bungee jumping or skydiving  to try to cure her block. That is something I would never ever do. Not because I don’t want to do those things (because I do) but because with my luck I would have that best selling idea on the way down and then crash to the earth where the awesome idea would die with me.

I knew someone who would sit in a chair with their legs on the back and their head hanging down to the floor.  I could see where that might make the ideas flow to the brain better, but again I would never do that because I would have that best selling idea and then I would pass out cold never to remember the idea again. Part of my ‘brokenness’ is migraines/sinuses/dizziness and I really don’t need to add to that if at all possible.

Now swimming is a writers block cure that I could get into. For me swimming can cure just about anything that ails me. But then I don’t have a pool, the city/rec center charges way too much, I don’t do bathing suits in public and I don’t have a baby sitter for the little ones on a moments notice. So in the end I will just have to whack myself upside the head in times of blockage emergency and hope that it doesn’t add to the brain mushiness that I have thanks to my five wonderful children.

Until next time…here is wishing you easy recovery from whatever ails you. <3

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wrote a possible solution to this on your FB page, hope it helps. I also wanted to again thank you for your blog, even when I have to catch up because of my crazy life and don't always comment - I am glad your voice is out there for all of us that understand your type of struggles... <3 HLR

Unknown said...

Thank you so much! Your comment means the world to me. This is the reason I started this blog! <3