Monday, May 14, 2018

Writer's Block and Inspiration

Hitting the wall.  
The fear of the blank page or blank page syndrome.  
Running out of gas.  
A creative slowdown.  
Lack of inspiration.  
The yips.  
Burnout.

Every creative type faces it at some point.  That time where you feel that you have run out of things to say.  At least at that particular moment.  Where your muse is no longer speaking to you.

The easy thing to do is to cave.  To give in and let the blank page reign.  To wait until inspiration strikes again, whenever that may be.

I had started this blog with the goal of posting new content daily largely as a writing exercise.  To get in the ten thousand hours Malcolm Gladwell has noted to refine talent.  To build that skill and more finely hone it.  And that requires working through the light times anyway.  To write, whether or not I have anything in particular to say that day.  So I'm bringing you along on that journey.

I had started a completely different topic for today, but could not bring it together.  I was trying to write something that was not mine.  To make an argument that I support, but have no passion in.  And it just would not come together.  So, it was discarded.

I listen to a lot of podcasts involving discussion of the creative process, often involving a lot of writers of various media.  The one question that gets asked over and over again is "how to become a writer."  And the answer, invariably, is always "write."

The longer something stays in your head, the longer the idea of writing remains only an idea, the harder it is to ever really begin.

So, write, and keep writing.  Write about what interests you.  Write about what angers you.  Write something.  Anything.  If it's bad, write it anyway and then come back to it the next day to re-write.

And if you find yourself stuck with writer's block, maybe try what I did and just write about it.

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."
Ernest Hemingway

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