Writers block is not myth but I am starting to think it is often a symptom of a larger issue.
I don’t think that struggling to put words on the screen is an issue of having nothing to say, I think it is more often an issue of having too much to say… and not having anything driving one to say it.
No timeline. No urgency. No pressure.
There you are, just a guy in front of a keyboard waiting for inspiration to strike?
I have found more and more over the last couple years that as I sit down to write my 500 words of fiction each weekday that one thing has been driving my production of that volume of words: writing to a deadline has helped me overcome so many instances of block.
Maybe it was knowing that I need to get words in while my coffee was still hot. Or perhaps it was knowing that I had somewhere else to be in a couple hours. Could be it was knowing that I wanted to go to bed at a reasonable time. But all of it also knowing that I had a quota to meet before any of those things.
All other concerns got pushed to the side to meet the deadline. I was doing time, writing words, and breaking blocks.
Terms FROm this POSt
- inspiration
- A vague concept I mention frequently in my writing but rarely pause to define, I think the notion of being inspired is really at the foundational level, the seeds of creativity. Without inspiration, without muse, without spark creativity is just work or repetition or rote effort. Inspiration does not necessarily need to be monumental or epic or of the highest quality, but rather it is what is at the start of every creative process …until it flowers and drops more seeds of inspiration and the cycle repeats.
- just a guy
- In a jab at some modesty and self-deprecation, I admit I often need to remind myself that even just a guy can have an impact on the universe. I’m one person writing and sharing in a public space, and this is a caveat too often… but it’s also a gentle reminder that sometimes there are real people lurking behind digital curtains.
- keyboard
- Maybe it’s for typing. Maybe it’s for coding. Maybe it’s for making music. A bed of buttons arrayed for digital input is my favourite user interface and I’ll write about them often in their many varieties.
