WRITERS BLOCK

WRITERS BLOCK

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)


There is an ailment or affliction that most writers seem to suffer from, know as “Writers Block”. (if you haven’t been introduced yet, don’t worry, your day will come) If I’m not mistaken it is also common among musicians, artists and other creative people. We can be happily and creatively producing work on a daily basis, and then all of a sudden…full stop, dead end.. “brick wall”. In my particular instance, I find myself searching for a worthy topic to write about. After cranking out hundreds of articles in a year, it seems like I have addressed every know subject.

In my mind’s eye I picture a writer or reporter sitting in front of an old fashioned typewriter ripping off pages, crumbling them and tossing them at an already full wire trash basket near the desk. For me it’s similar to trying to remember someone’s name. The more you demand that your mind brings forth the information, the deeper it seems to get repressed. To make things worse, when you are under pressure, it just makes things worse. There is nothing like a deadline to really cause your creative brain cells to go on strike.

Maybe writers block is like the common cold, once you get it, you kind of have to let it run its course. Not unlike a baseball player in a hitting slump, the more you swing for the fences the more you strike out. If the truth be told, I enjoy writing; and have found that once you acquire the habit of penning your thoughts each day, it’s really quite enjoyable and addictive. As in so many other endeavors the habit becomes a passion, and the work becomes a pleasure and not a chore.

When I latch on to an interesting idea or concept to write about, the content seems to flow like water over a water fall, however when the “Block” hits, its trickles down to a few drops at a time from a rusty old pipe. I can tell you from experience that making yourself sitting there in front of a blank computer screen doesn’t help at all.

I’ve also noticed that sometimes your best thoughts come to you while you are relaxing or thinking of something completely different. They say if you delegate a thought or problem to your subconscious it will work on, and solve the issue for you without conscious thought. That doesn’t seem to work well for me, perhaps because once I assign the task to my subconscious, I tend to check back on it every few minutes (just to see how it’s coming along). Anyway, it’s like waiting for water to boil or bread to bake. It seems the more I keep checking on it, the longer it takes. (hmm.. even my sub conscious gets micro-managed)

If you haven’t suffered from the “Block” it’s really rather annoying. I find myself awake at night trying to come up with a new topic to write about. One quick look at my documents file shows my word processor having dozens of saved opening paragraphs and half written articles that just didn’t make the grade. It’s at times like this that I wish they had a pill or something, like writers Viagra to get me going.

I guess like good music or fine wine, good ideas just takes time. You really can’t rush creative writing.

Feel free to contact me at: www.pooritalianboy@gmail.com

P.I.B.