February 3, 2005

Writer’s block has a self-propelling mechanism — the more you don’t write, the more you feel you can’t write, bemoans Maryam Murtaza Sadriwala

Here I am sitting in front of my PC while the flickering cursor on the blank document mocks me. “You imbecile, the one thing you’re supposed to be reasonably good at and even that has deserted you. Hah! So much for that writing career you slogged for during those laborious years at Karachi

University! There go the dreams of publishing a book. Up in smoke. The hopes of becoming an acclaimed free-lance writer are flushed down the drain.”

I shut down the PC and escape to the solitude of my bedroom. Maybe the good old pencil and writing pad will help. After all, when I didn’t have a PC in my first year at university I managed to churn out printable stuff. So I sharpen my pencil and settle myself into a comfortable position on my worn-out bean bag and wait. “Wait for what?” the paper seems to raise an invisible eyebrow and question. “For the writing gods to once again smile upon you,” I whimper, throwing down the pad and pencil under my bed.

“Every time I plan to sit down to write a piece there’s always something boiling itself to death on the stove or a shrilling phone to answer,” says Khadija, a mother and free-lance writer operating from home. “By the time I make it to the keyboard all ideas seem to have flown the nest.”

“My editors have always relied on me as a prolific scribe, and I consistently whip up one piece after another but, recently, it seems as though the well has dried up,” laments Aziz, a contributor for a fashion magazine for the past six years. “It’s painful, demoralizing and worst of all it just doesn’t make any sense.”

If you’ve ever suffered from the symptoms which resemble the above scenario then you’ve been struck by the dreaded Writer’s Block. Figuring out that you have writer’s block is like winning half the battle.

One common obstacle which writers’ face is a dearth of time. I mean writing is a flow of creative juices welling up inside your system and coming out by themselves beautifully via your fingers onto paper. You can’t cobble together an excellent piece of literature in the half hour you have between the chore of heating up dinner on the stove for your family and sitting down to eat it. Try a more strategic approach.

Make a list of all the things you do during the day and how much time you spend doing them. Concentrate your energies on simplifying your life and consciously discipline yourself to make time and space for writing.

Take out one hour every day to sit in front of the Word Processor and type. Even if it is merely typing of shallow words or thoughts in the beginning, it will eventually trickle down to actual writing. This is just to make sure that those writing fingers don’t get stiff and the creative blood continues to flow. Make sure you don’t ignore your PC. It just might take it personally!

Steve Yudewitz in his article titled Writer’s block: Myths and Facts calls this freewriting. “The object,” he says “is to write without stopping to get you moving!” Ironic as it may sound, one way to work through writer’s block is writing about it. It does marvels in recognizing and working through your own problem. Writing a monologue, or keeping a journal, and jotting down ideas are all possible ways to keep yourself in touch with writing in short and manageable doses.

Victoria Nelson’s book on the topic encourages you to start a spontaneous and free-form dialogue between your conscious self and your unconscious creative self. After you’ve finished your dialogue, sit down and describe the personalities of the two speakers and the tone of the conversation. Identifying the areas of conflict and harmony between the two selves could give you some insight into where your problem may lie.

Yudewitz also explains that sometimes starting at the beginning induces Perfect Draft Syndrome. If you’ve got a plan for the article, choose a point you know well and start from it. After you’ve gained some confidence, you can work on the opening and smooth out the other lines.

As a result of my research I have discovered that not all professional writers have their creative juices roaring 24/7. It may be that three short stories a year may be your natural rhythm. It’s okay, allow yourself to write only as often as you enjoy. Sometimes writers need to be reminded that writing isn’t really magic, even though it often seems a magical and mysterious process and we feel we’ve simply lost the gift.

A viable way to approach the block is as a symptom of a specific problem, that can be solved. Take your writer’s block seriously, if you don’t want it to prolong and become career threatening. Consider the reasons because of which you might not be writing now.

Ann Lamott in her hilarious book Bird by Bird recommends simply writing a really terrible first draft. Really terrible. Let it be as bad as it comes out — clumsy word choice, incomprehensible sentences, wooden dialogues and all. The only rule about getting out an atrocious first draft is that you finish it. The point is that it gets your idea down on paper where you can work on and it allows you to finish something. This goes a long way toward restoring your sense of competence as a writer.

As a fledging writer you might harbour the illusion that with time the writing process might get easier but the harsh reality is that each story gets harder. So don’t let panic usher in writer’s block even before your writing has properly taken off. Pros who have been writing successfully for a while do not continue to rise in some kind of straight steady line. But they have writing ups and downs. Don’t let the lull instill doubts.

Writer’s block has a self-propelling mechanism — the more you don’t write, the more you feel you can’t write. The more you feel you can’t write, the more you feel hopeless and helpless to try.

Reading about writer’s block itself is a balm, which reassures you that you’re not doomed alone. The important thing to remember is that getting over writer’s block is a process, much like the process of writing. If you force it or neglect it, it doesn’t work very well. So take a specified number of days, christen it as your recovery period, get a bunch of books from the library, read, nourish yourself and above all experience, feel, taste, savour all that goes on around you.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)