Anyone who has ever tried to write is sure to have come across these two words – Writer’s Block!
What is Writer’s Block?
The Free Dictionary defines it as “the inability to write”. But, come to think of it, what exactly does “inability to write” mean? Does it mean something is wrong with your hands, and you can’t hold a pen or type? Or, you have a brain disorder that prevents you from stringing words together?
I don’t think anyone who has used the words Writer’s Block has used them in the sense implied in questions above. So, if your fingers can type (or write, as the case may be), and your brain can think coherently, what does Writer’s Block mean?
There was a time when I , myself, used to complain about Writer’s Block a lot. Then, I came across this article that said if you want to write, quit complaining and just write. And since then, I have stopped complaining about Writer’s Block and I feel, so should everyone else.
Complaining about Writer’s Block is like walking into your office on a Monday morning, and saying, “I can’t work”. Of course, no one ever says that. What they say, instead, is : ” I don’t feel like working today.”
So, when we – who write – complain about Writer’s Block, we should say , “I don’t want to write,” instead of “I can’t write.” Because if you really want to write, there is no reason you can’t. Don’t you agree?
I don’t agree with this because it’s not my experience.
One of my common problems is that sometimes I lack focus… I have many idea bouncing around at the same time jostling for position.
Sometimes staring at a blank screen helps thresh them out… other times I have to come away and just let my subconscious deal with it.
A mathematician author once wrote that this is how the mind often works. A big wrestling of primal ideas that lead to confusion and chaos… that is best walked away fromfor a time. During the period away from coscious thought, the subconscious starts sorting through and filing all these thoughts and you get a eureka moment. It’s at this point he suggests that people write the results of their findings down. Interestingly he suggests that people shouldn’t show their “working out”which is wuite the opposite of what they taught us at school.
Regards
N
Maybe “writer’s block” is just a creative way of saying, “I can’t think of anything at the moment.” Just something to be be thinking while your brain works on the issue.
In fact, I recently read an interesting article in Discover magazine and then put it to the test. It said if you pose a question to yourself (your brain), your brain will continue to work on the question until it can give you an answer.
The test part was that I’d had a movie song in my head for days, and then suddenly it was gone – zip, zilch, nada.
I “asked my brain” to get the song back and three days later, as I swung my legs out of bed – WHAM! there was the complete song again 🙂
So while on the surface you might not know what to write about, give the task over to your brain and soon “no more writer’s block!”
Thanks for a fun read 🙂
Excellent points. I find that you’re spot on when it comes to my pen-for-hire work, but when I’m working on my novel it’s a whole other situation. I frequently get stuck on that side of things.
At any rate, this was a thought-provoking article. I’ve stumbled it.
A writer’s block – I tend to agree with Diane that it is just a creative way of saying, “I can’t think of anything at the moment.” Sometimes, I just sort of get a ‘mental’ block as in I do not know what to write about. Got to try out what Diane mentioned; throwing questions to our brain.
I also agree with you on the point you read from the article, “if you want to write, quit complaining and just write.” This happened to me a few times where I just started typing something and all the words just started to flow into my head. Thought provoking article.
For me, “Writer’s Block” is an INABILITY to think coherently. Ideas are all around by finding the focus, motivation, and willpower to pull those ideas into order on a page is beyond me. I can TYPE but I can’t WRITE. There is a big difference.
Having said that, I’ve always found that if I force myself, BIC style and start putting anything to the page something will come out. I’ve also found that when I do this what turns up on the page is usually terrible.
I find writers block to be a time when I either can’t think of new ideas or can’t figure out how to string those ideas together.
Some consider writers block to be times when they can’t formulate full paragraphs or pages, even though they can list ideas. I disagree here. If you are putting pen to paper, you are writing. It doesn’t have to make sense. That’s what editing is for.
I think of writers block as no ideas are coming to me. With my personal blog this happens not so much w/ the other two though. If I am writing about me sometimes nothing.
I never really believed there was such a thing as writers block. You could always write your complaints if worse came to worse, or look for a prompt. Happy writing 🙂