Writers Block

I was asked recently about writers block - something I don't believe in. It's always been linked, in my mind, to the notion of writers as airy fairy artistes wafting around in a delicate nervous state waiting to be snuggled into submission by inspiration. I believe instead in the notion of writers as workers, crafters, drafters... a carpenter doesn't get carpenters block, stand with saw in hand in front of a kitchen unit and weep 'I just can't Majorie, I just can't... maybe tomorrow it will come to me...'

But - some pieces of writing are more challenging than others, some times its harder than usual to juggle writing with life. Or you just become tired and burnt out trying- the life of an emerging writer can be full of rejections. The answer may be to write a little less, and live a little more for a while. Or to write from a different angle or pov. Or to write in a different form, a poem, a play, a monologue, a flash - but the answer is never, in my case anyway, to stop writing. Writing will give you more writing.  Free writing is a practise that can work really well.... if you're feeling stuck, give it a try :)

 You just do it. Pick up the pen. Go. And you time yourself. You do writing practice. Don’t cross out. Trust your own mind, be specific—not car, but Cadillac. Lose control. Say what you really want to say, not what you think you should say. We mostly live in discursive thinking, but in writing practice, if you keep your hand moving, you eventually settle below discursive thinking to wild mind, the place where you really see, think, and feel. That’s the place you want to get to in order to write.

Natalie Goldberg