Writer's "Block"

Over the holiday, I thought a lot about topics to write about. Thinking about writing makes me feel like I am actually doing work while I am really just swimming or day dreaming or drinking bourbon with a squeeze of lemon (excellent, by the way. You should try it.)

I had some great stuff with firework metaphors (perfect, right?) and something about barbecuing -- really stellar -- None of it, though, really focused on the challenge that every writer encounters: The challenge to produce work.

I struggle every day just to sit down at my computer and pound out a paragraph before I succumb to the distraction of a word, a song, or a daydream floating in my head. And while I am sure that some small part of it has to do with the allusiveness of inspiration, I am also certain that most of my problem has more to do with fear than anything else. I am terrified of producing crappy work, so in an effort to prevent that certainty from happening, I produce nothing. Anything I manage to eek out gets over analyzed and dismissed by my overactive self criticism before it can ever develop into anything remotely close to complete. 

Okay, so I have diagnosed the problem. What can I do about it?

1. Create a low-stress writing outlet.

A blog for example? Great. I've already got one of those. This solution stuff is going to be easier than I thought.

Blogging provides a writer with a reason to write every day without the added pressure for everything to be perfect and brilliant. After all, it's just a blog. Once a writer gets in the habit of sitting down every day and writing for a half hour or so, half the battle is won.

2. Free Write

Yeah, I know free-writing is cliched advice and I know it normally doesn't work but I don't expect anyone to do that free association Freudian crap. Write something you are interested in and don't expect it to turn into anything publishable. Sure, make it cohesive. Don't float random words on the page like a hippie, but don't put pressure on yourself to make this an art piece. Instead, focus on the rhythm of writing and concentrate on your sentences. Something might come out of this exercise that can be expanded but even if it doesn't, the act of writing itself will loosen your creative juices and concentrating on your word choice and sentence development is a good exercise for any writer, so you're not wasting your time.

3. Walk Backward

Is this Voodoo? No. It's a way of getting your mind unstuck by doing something you don't normally do. Do you have to walk backward? Of course not. Just doing something out of the ordinary will work. Take a different route on your daily walk through the park. Go on a bike ride. Rock climb. I do advise you do something physical ( don't just buy a new video game to play or watch CBS instead of FOX. I don't think that will work.)

While you are participating in your chosen new experience, think about all the sensory elements. What does the air smell like? How does the sun (or the cold) feel on your skin? Do you hear sounds? What are they? Where are they coming from? Can you develop origin stories for the sounds?

This may seem pointless but try it anyway. You may return to your computer with a new story or scene taken directly from your experience or, at the very least, you will return refreshed from physical exercise and mentally renewed from the change in scenery.

4. Discipline

Fundamentally, the hardest step is the last one. Discipline. The word alone evokes nasty images of drill sergeants or screaming children getting spanked. Discipline, though, just means a regimen that develops or improves a skill.

The regimen of daily writing is the most important step in producing work. I know it is hard. I know your brain screams at you and everything you produce is crap and ends up getting trashed anyway. I know. But write anyway. Write every day. Eventually something you pound out will have some merit.

My dad used to tell me Writer's write. It's obvious, sure, but think about what is hidden behind those words. Many people are "aspiring writers." What holds them back? Discipline. Many other less talented people have made a living doing that very thing of which more talented "aspiring writers" only dream. What sets them apart? Just their ability to glue their butt in a chair and write their hearts out.