Is This Writer’s Block?
Not sure if I am dealing with writer’s block, or just simply having issues creating a topic today.
Writer’s block can take on many different forms. Sometimes it’s just a lack of ideas. Other times a lack of inspiration. From time to time, it’s a lack of motivation. Certainly it can be a combination of all of the above, too.
For me, there are times I just get distracted. Might be a useful distraction, or it might be nothing but a plain, unadorned, pointless distraction. Whatever the case, it’s important that I recognize when this is happening, and take steps to get away from it. Letting myself be overcome by distraction is a form of self-sabotage.
Occasionally it’s a matter of self-doubt that is blocking me. When it’s the blog, for example, I wonder if anybody cares about what I put here? Does any of this matter to anybody, myself included? Am I just spinning my metaphoric wheels and not gaining anything from this?
It never ceases to amaze me how one question leads to the next which in turn leads to the next. There are always more questions than answers. Of course, that’s life. When we have no questions, we have nothing to learn, and learning is how we grow. Learning is how we gain new knowledge, and new tools to let us consciously create reality and manifest our dreams.
Another factor in being blocked is outside influences. If I feel as though I am doing little to nothing to help the greater good, that can be ultimately disheartening. In our current social climate, that’s a real challenge.
Like any emotion, how long I let myself be blocked is entirely up to me.
I can break my block.
Like any emotion I can feel, I alone can choose how long to let my block sit with me. Do I want to lament being blocked and moan about it and let it fester? Or do I acknowledge it, and try to work out of it somehow?
Life is about choices. I have chosen to walk my own path in this life, and cross the bridges between the different worlds I perceive that I live in. I decide how to deal with my block, and like any other feeling I can choose to move away from it.
Guess where this particular post is coming from? I have spent hours trying to come up with a topic, but nothing has hit. I haven’t done any other writing or editing today, because I am feeling blocked. Well, one of the best ways to break a block is to write. Stream-of-conscious writing may be raw, and not something I would necessarily share, but it will in time break me from my block.
It’s akin to running in place or jumping jacks or any other exercise you do to get your heart pumping. Banging out words on the keyboard is a mental exercise, and will stimulate the brain and clear out blockage. It may be just a single step in the process, but it’s better than wallowing in self-pity over being blocked.
Other options for overcoming a block include meditation, some form of exercise to literally get the blood flowing, or maybe grabbing something to eat or drink, because sometimes that’s the problem. Any combination of these options might also be the answer.
A writing block is something you feel.
It’s imperative to acknowledge that blocked is a feeling. It feels a lot like frustration, annoyance, disappointment, distress, and even anger all combined to various degrees. It can feel like guilt, too, because often being blocked is completely nonsensical. There is often no why, it just is.
Hence why breaking a block is like taking control of and changing a feeling. Because that’s precisely what it is. If I feel blocked, I have to take steps to break the block.
I have more than one project in the works currently. The sci-fi epic I’m really enjoying working on continues apace. I need to continue to work on Guardians, and I need to return to the edits on Harbinger. There is my modern alchemist story I started that I should continue. I blog 3-4 times a week, and it never hurts to get ahead. There are ideas in my head for some other new short stories I should begin to work on.
There is something new I’m doing to further my goals. I am joining a group and taking some courses online to help me define myself better as a writer, and as a business. There are several bits of literature I have downloaded as companions to this, and reading them can help break my block.
I think I have gotten past this now. I am excited about the possibilities before me, and I think I have new means to create stronger bridges to cross between my worlds.
No room for doubt, I have work to do.
As always, thank you for crossing the bridges with me.
GOAL LOG – Week 41:
Diet: I have not been keeping track this week.
Exercise: Fenced twice, but that was it. Knee injury is now identified, and I have let it sideline me a bunch this week.
Writing: Three blog posts, some work on the sci-fi story.
Meditation: Only two days last week, for 8 and 10 minutes.
Gratitude: I was not tracking gratitude. I have to get back to this.
This is the fifty-sixth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series. My collectively published writing can be found here.
