When I sat down to think about what to write about this month I came up with… absolutely nothing. And that got me thinking. This happens often to writers. Armed with the best intentions, they sit down and face the dreaded ‘Blank Screen, often precipitated by the only thing more discouraging than form rejection letters- Writer’s Block.
I’ve dealt with my fair share of Writer’s Block, and I know others have as well. When asked what she does to combat this phenomenon, Pandamoon author Penni Jones said she ‘goes through drafts of short stories, blog posts and unfinished manuscripts… until I find something I feel like working on.’ When I asked playwright Margy Eickoff, she responded with ‘ I get a lot of my ideas at night as I am falling asleep, so the first thing in the morning I try to organize and maybe even write a few things down. I also try to write about why I feel like I’m stuck. Sort of a stream-of-consciousness thing.” Short story writers Hayla Britton and Sharon Bippus use nature as inspiration by going on walks. They also read books, listen to music and do ‘mindless’ household tasks such as laundry or the dishes.
And while the ways to combat Writer’s Block are varied and specific to each person, the struggle is universal. I remember an English Lit teacher telling our class a story about Samuel Coleridge. While writing the poem ‘Kublai Khan’, he was disturbed by a visitor and sadly, could not return to the rhythm he had perfected prior to the interruption. The muse had flown, and when I read the poem I was able to see the very obvious ‘break’ in his writing style. Just like that… poof! Writer’s Block Cometh.
Aside from Coleridge, Leo Tolstoy, Stephen King and even J.K. Rowling have famously suffered from bouts of inefficacy (Tolstoy had 13 children, so one can empathize). It’s a terrible feeling, knowing a story that shows promise might linger in ‘No Man’s Land’ indefinitely. The writer feels a certain responsibility to the reader to ‘keep it going’ at all costs, which can actually make things worse.
Sometimes Writer’s Block doesn’t come as a lack of something to write, but as a lack of something good to write. I’ve written pages of what I consider ‘crap’- realizing later that I needed to squeeze through the bad stuff (like that gross pre-juice that squirts from a mustard container) to get to the gold (or mustard… so to speak.)
I have also been known to go back to a place in the story where I felt ‘inspired’ - or even a few pages before I left off and work forward while I edit away (I love to do little edits. It’s the OCD in me) and when I get to the chasm, the last word before the dreaded ‘Blank Screen’ I do a little ‘leap’ and jump into the next sentence without thinking. It’s kind of like getting my momentum when trying to jump across a stream. I hope I have enough propulsion to make it to the other side- and most of the time I do. Once there, I repeat a mantra that has stayed with me since watching the film ‘Finding Nemo.’ In the movie, sweet, but sometimes mindless Dory, reminds Marlin to ‘Keep on Swimming.’
And so I tell myself to ‘Keep on Writing’, no matter what seems to be standing in my way. Sometimes writing this monthly blog is just what I need to view a story with a fresh set of eyes. Sometimes I do the Evel Knievel jump mentioned above, and sometimes, like my writer friends, I do laundry, or listen to music, or journal , or try to dig something out that I haven’t worked on in awhile. But no matter what we do to combat the enemy we must eventually face Writer’s Block head-on.
And we need to, because as authors there is nothing else for us to do. We have to write. And when we linger too long in the world of Writer’s Block something within us dies, and if enough time passes it seems like the part of us that was most alive while writing never lived at all.
So don’t let that happen. Do whatever it takes and if all else fails, just listen to what Dory (kinda) says and ‘Keep on Writing.’