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Eddie Heinzelman
Wikipedia has an entry that reads, “Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.’
I think for most people who feel they are blocked, it is because they either aren’t happy with what they are writing or are applying too much pressure to write something “great” or even “better”. This additional pressure applied before creativity is even allowed to happen is detrimental to that creativity. And if it continues for an extended period of time, it’s in this period of lack of inspiration or creativity that frustration can set in and writers feel “blocked”.
If you are feeling frustrated by the lack of productivity and creativity, and now it’s been X number of months since you’ve written, what can you do? I generally recommend a three-step approach to getting through a period of block.
1. Remove the pressure on yourself.
There’s a zen koan about two monks walking along a muddy road when they come to a stream and a lovely woman who cannot get across. The older monk picks the woman up and carries her across the water in his arms. When they get to the other side, he sets her down and continues walking. The monks do not speak until later that night when the younger one cannot contain himself any longer and says, “Master, we are not supposed to have contact with women. Why did you do that back at the stream?” To which the older monk replies, “I left her back there. Why do you still carry her?”
Whatever the pressure you’re applying to yourself may be, set it down and leave it behind. If you’re trying to write the next hit song, if you’re trying to write something no one has heard before, if you’re trying to impress your beloved with a love song, if you’re trying to just write something “cool”….whatever it is, relax the judgment until after it’s written. Once you realize the pressure is in your mind, then you’ve taken the first step to dealing with it.
2. Take a break and do something fun.
I like to read fiction and biographies, especially music biographies, or watch movies, have a picnic, meditate, or just sit on the porch with a cup of coffee…. More than anything, I listen to music that really inspires me, especially revisiting and rediscovering the “soundtrack of my life” stuff that influenced me as a young guitarist and inspires me as a writer. Whatever it is for you, whatever it is that turns your crank….turn it!!! Go back and listen to them intently and absorb yourself in them. Recently, I was totally surprised by an acoustic guitar part I never realized was in the song “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that song in my life.
But in my opinion, the most important step is 3. Write through it!
No excuses, no limits, no rules. Just write. Write a journal or diary. Write a blog. Write a poem. Write a verse or chorus. Re-write a verse or a chorus. Do “object writing” by picking an object and writing for 20 minutes about that object in as much detail as possible. Write “stream of conscious” and write down anything and everything that comes to mind….no rules, remember? Brainstorm on a hook or idea.
Even if you don’t feel inspired, sit down for 15 minutes and write something, even if the end result is one line.
One of my favorite writing stories is about James Joyce that I read in Stephen King’s “On Writing”. One day, James’ assistant came into his office and found James laying across his writing desk in a completely distraught state. He asked what was wrong and James replied “I’ve only written 7 words today.” And the assistant said, “But James, for you, that’s a good day’s worth of work” to which James responded, “Yes, but I don’t know what order they should be.”
I often think of it like an Olympic athlete training. If an athlete doesn’t feel like training, maybe they take a day off, but if that athlete takes 3 months off, they can’t expect to be at peak performance the next time they step back into the gym or on the track. In the end, I think the best way to avoid writer’s block is to practice the above steps regularly and always work through it!
Write on!
Eddie Heinzelman
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