Keep the writing flow going
- Navel Gazing
Its easy to get caught up in the struggles to write, the attempt to punch in perfect prose, to be witty, entertaining and verbose. Its easy to forget that for most writers, we do it for fun. Perhaps you are at the point where are avoiding writing, or feel that other things in your life are taking priority.
You may be at the point where you know these are just excuses and that you want to change, to get moving and to get some writing done.. but there is just .. something… No amount of pep talking, threats or rewards are going to get you unblocked, until you uncover the base truth or essence of your blockage.
Being artistically blocked shows itself in a variety of ways. For many writers, it is the fine art of procrastination; for others it is the fear of failure, or depression. Allow me to share some insights into freeing the flow and to guide you back to writing.
Firstly – stop focusing on the blockage and stop trying to solve your ‘issues’.
You know you have an issue. By making it greater than it is and putting more energy into it, will not solve it.
Turf your Assumptions.
Your blockage stems from your beliefs or assumptions about something. For many writers the biggest block to getting unstuck was the continual navel gazing and endless concern on discovering why you are blocked.
Discover your assumptions or beliefs by doing a quick brainstorm – writing the first thing that comes into your head.
Start with these – more will come as you allow yourself to question
writing is:
Fun is:
being organised is:
work is:
a Writer is:
An Author is:
a famous writer is:
A rich author is:
making money as a writer is:
being famous is:
being rich is:
being publicly recognised as a writer would be:
asking for help is:
Just with these things written down, you may discover that your blockages with writing aren’t the things you ‘assumed’ they would be.
If you have a belief that writing is a struggle, that rich people are nasty or mean and that being a famous writer would mean that they are always on tour and away from their families.
If you are a family conscious person, who loves to contribute, share and have fun, then taking on the identity of a writer – based on the beliefs that are held at present will cause alot of friction in the subconscious. Its little wonder your mind and body are blocking you as a writer. All they are doing is protecting you from perceived pain.
Dig deeper
Once you have uncovered some of your beliefs, you may like to continue digging; question further and deeper. Particularly with writers, we have access to borrowed emotions and a wide bank of words and will often judge ourselves before writing down the ‘first word’ that comes to us.. generally the word we write is the forth or tenth…after we have judged it..
Arm yourself with better beliefs.
You don’t need those rubbish, self limiting beliefs. Write yourself some new ones. Perhaps you would like to believe that writers can change the world through their writing, bring about social justice, world peace? Believe in something inspiring or at least positive which will carry you on your journey as a writer.
Take action and stop navel gazing.. Just write!
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