I want to explore this concept, this metaphor, of a writer's block. Is it helpful? Not really. After all, as a writer, if you buy into it as an idea, it can stop you from writing. You start believing that you have an obstruction to your natural writing flow. You become blocked.
But what if we look at it from a different vantage point? What if we take the word block, and see it more like a block used by a butcher. A tool, that is a part of the craft, and helpful? Then the concept, the metaphor, is totally different. Although the word itself hasn't changed, the meaning it conveys has. As a writer, I can then take my block out and use it. I can begin to chop up my forming ideas, spread them out into bitesize paragraphs, and perhaps, usefully package them up for others to consume.
This is but one idea, one metaphor, that I can utililise with my writer's block, but I know this may upset some. After all, the idea now has become associated with a butcher, and as a writer, I don't want to butcher my writing. So how else could I play with this term? Let's take the imaginary block, perhaps I can still view it as a block of wood, or perhaps stone, and look at it with the eyes of a carpenter or sculptor. It is now something I can use as a starting point, a rectangular shape that can be explored.
What will I create with it? There are so many choices opening up. I might begin by sketching out the shape of a woman, or a man. As I chisel into the block a character takes shape, and my imagination stirs a little more and I begin to see their definition. A story for this character begins to form before my eyes, and the block that was once so ordinary is now something else entirely. Once again, my writer's block serves as a tool unlocking my flow of creation.
As a child, I played with blocks. I could stack them high and build a tall tower. A place for Rapunzel to let down her hair. Sometimes the blocks were decorated with letters and new words were learnt: cat, dog, and a whole menagerie of other animals were brought to my attention through the magic of play. A powerful use of a block, wouldn't you say?
The journey for the writer always begins with a blank space, and ideas can be formed if we sit with patience and allow them to form. Even a writer's block can be played with if we allow it to become part of the creative process.
The usual way of thinking about a writer's block is to perceive an imaginary impediment getting in the way of the creative flow. However, it is not necessary to view the block as an obstacle. What if instead, the writer took the block and began to explore it. What is it? Is it an obstacle? Is it an absence of ideas? Is it an absence of thought? Is it a desire for originality? There are many traps that we can find ourselves falling into. But are they real? No, they are imagined. Imagination is boundless, even though it can appear to trip us up to the extent that we find ourselves believing in it as our reality.
Let's explore this thought a little more. A writer sits down to write. They are faced with the blank screen, or the blank page, and suddenly they begin to believe they have nothing to write about. They believe they are in the grip of a writer's block, and instead of ideas flowing from them to their keyboard, or through their pen, they sit with the blankness, getting nowhere. At this point, no doubt, they are feeling a little raw. There are emotions swirling inside them, and a story is forming inside their head. It is a story that they keep to themselves as they tie themselves up in its heaviness. Now they are the block. I do not know what emotion they are feeling. But for me the one that surfaces when I allow myself to believe in this type of block, I label doubt.
For me, ideas pop up, effortlessly, all the time, but then I push them back down. Doubt is then the block that stands in my way. Doubt is not a useful tool. It gets me nowhere. I become stationary, petrified in a limited space of confusion. So, as this is the block that I can and do experience, let's explore it a little further.
What is doubt? It's not something tangible. It is a feeling inside of me. When I experience it, I attach a story to it. The story might go something like: I can't write that! That's not good enough. That's stupid! Or, something else along those lines. But what if I didn't do that? What if, instead of getting involved in the story of doubt, I sat with the feeling; I allowed it time to let itself be known to me. What if, instead of labelling it as doubt, I just recognised it as an energy within me? An energy that gets stirred up as part of my creative process, and is entirely of my own making. After all, creativity is something that stirs me. It makes sense that I will feel it. The problem isn't the feeling then, but the label and the story I somehow stick on it.
The feeling I define as doubt is uncomfortable. It is something I don't particularly like. It feels far too powerful. And, unfortunately, I have allowed myself to spin stories that have taken me away from my writing, instead of just sitting with the discomfort. When I do this, when I allow myself to leave my writing, the feeling subsides, but the cost is that I do not write. I numb myself to my creativity and continue on with my humdrum life. I stay enclosed inside that other less than useful metaphor, my comfort zone. But, that is something I'm no longer prepared to do.
Instead, I will use my writer's block and explore it. I will feel the stirred up energy of my creativity, experience the discomfort, and step outside the limiting boundaries of the comfort zone to find something new. Doubt, my imaginary old friend, you no longer need to keep me safe. There is a brave new world for me to create. And suddenly,I find myself hurtling forward from the starting block, and write.
This was wonderful to read, Julia. You sure did come back with a bang 💗. Such a creative piece! It's about taking what you have been given and making good use of it; not focusing on what isn't there, but on what is there. And we can all learn something from exploring and examining and playing creatively with the building blocks of our writing - our thoughts. It's like using The Most Dangerous App to do 5 minute freewrites - you just let the thoughts flow...whatever whenever just keep flowing... and see where that unimpeded process takes one. You hit upon a thought or idea that catches, and build on it, chip away at it, if nothing else keep examing it as if in 4D . A great range of metaphorical application here; thank you for sharing this in Dreemport. Reblogged. !PIZZA !ALIVE
Thanks, Sam. I appreciate your thoughts connecting with my own through your comment, and for the reminder about The Most Dangerous App. There's so much fun to be had by just projecting yourself off from the starting block and racing into the unknown and discovering the journey just by creating it as you go along. I think, it's time to return and play in the 5 minute freewrite space and warm up my creative muscles. 💛
Most definitely... I mean that thing scares me half to death 😁but it works!!! hahaha !LOLZ !LUV
@juliamulcahy, @samsmith1971(3/5) sent you LUV.
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Wow, creative way to use Writer's Block, to overcome writer's block, while writing, about Writer's Block.
I guess that hardest part, not jsut of coming up with ideas, but moving forward. When block hits for me, i lose interest in writing, not just lose ideas to write about. I feel less inclined to write, if the idea doesn't even WOW me.
Welcome Back! BTW, @samsmith1971 shared this post on #pypt @dreemport today.
Thanks, @bluefinstudios. It's good to be back!
It was very nice of Sam to share my post. I had hoped to join #pypt but couldn't get back in time. Perhaps, next week. 😀
This is inspiring. Most times people suffer from writer's block and block their minds, 😂. Me inclusive. But I have seen here that even at that block,we can make something out of nothing. Writing to say you have writer's blocks and asking for opinions on what to write has even lifted you off from that block. I really have learnt from here, thanks.
I bring you greetings from dreemport.
Thanks for stopping by, @adoore-eu. I love DreemPort. I'm into my third week and am just loving the posts I get to read each day.
Glad you learnt something from my post. That has made me smile 💛
Oh my goodness...
I have never ever thought of it this way - but I sure am going to from now on!!! This was absolutely brilliant - ALL the uses of block in the positive creative spin, instead of the negative inhibitory connotation!
Jules - I feel like you've seriously hit on something so important for writers! Every time I think of that block now, I'll visualize Michelangelo carving out David from this MASSIVE BLOCK! hehehehehe
Have I said - I'm glad you're home???
hehehe
I've been crazy busy this week, and not around terribly much - hehehe but don't worry - I have not misplaced you hehehe
After this Friday post is up and settled, I believe that I have some things to discuss with you and Sam and a few others! LOL
very excited about that - love you - love this post - so thrilled to read this!
I'm glad I'm home too! You kept the place nice and cosy for me.
This week's been both loooonnnnnggggg and busy for me too! I'm truly grateful it's finally Friday! I'm going to have some fun on a crazy scavenger hunt soon. Not sure if you've heard about it?! Hehehehehe!
And yes, you do have something to talk to me about. Sam's already began a rather interesting convo with me, and I'm trying to keep myself contained, but that fizz of excitement keeps lifting me up so much that I just want to skip around the place. Lol!
But, now, I have to fly, I have 5 posts to curate. I wonder what goodies are in store for me today. 😄
I think we all face that block at some point. That he is not only a white linso but he is a hard nut to crack hahaha. Everyone does what they can with what they have, the results are not always as favorable or what we expect, but the best of all is always having a final result. It is an achievement, because it is something finished. Didn't turn out quite as we wanted? but at least we didn't hang up the gloves and that activity allowed us to exercise our skills. In addition to what we sound like failure, if it is not what we expect, we have something to learn from. Your post made me think a lot my friend @juliamulcahy.
I came to you through Dreemport.
Thank you for visiting! It is lovely to meet another member of DreemPort. What a community! I'm loving it. 💛
I'm not very good at Dreemport but here I go, little by little 😁.
isn't that the best way? hehehehe you're doing great!
Thnak you very mkuch friend @dreemsteem 🤗😉
This is quite interesting but only if it were that easy to transform the block into a budding idea that can be explored in different ways. Sometimes this block comes as a brain paralysis. You experience the blank both in mind and in your brain. Nothing comes up, each time you try so hard to create something, you are blessed with headaches and that's why often than not, people advise that it's best to just leave writing at the moment and visit again. But like you rightly said that leaves you with not writing. I don't think it's a big deal if one doesn't write everyday or is it that being a writer means one must write always?
After much said, I love how you handled writer's block as a metaphor. When next it visits me, I'll be sure to figure out what emotions I'm feeling at that moment and pursue it in writing. Someone once said, the best way he fights writer's block is by writing about it.
I've read a great book called, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, and although my ideas in my post are different, I love how he deals with writer's block. He dubs it Resistance and he says:
He definitely wrote about his experience with writer's block. And, it's a very interesting read. 💛
Hmm! Strong words from Steven. I should check out the book. Thanks for sharing
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This is an interesting take on writer's block ... you have come through with the danger of doubt ... doubt is a block for many of us on many things ... the idea of pushing down good ideas because of doubt is something I have to overcome more as a visual artist ... and it is the casting away of doubt that lets me get through to the other side and be able to create what I am meant to create.
Thanks for stopping by @deeanndmathews and taking the time to read my post. I love the visual image of you casting away your doubts, and then being able to get through to the other side, where creation lives for you. So, you're an artist? How lovely. 💛