On The Block

Writer's block. We're all familiar with it. I've been suffering from it a great deal lately...I haven't touched either of my stories-in-progress in weeks, my personal blog is sadly neglected (not to mention this one) and as far as poetry goes, I've hardly written a couplet until last night when I managed to kick myself into throwing a little something together as a Christmas gift for some friends of mine. I think there is hope that it's wearing off now, though. I wrote that poem and I'm writing this. That's progress, right?

A long time ago, I was told that when the block strikes, the best thing to do is just go with the flow. Write whatever comes into your head and hope that gets the wheels turning a bit. In short, float lazily along down a stream of consciousness. You won't be writing top-notch literature, but the idea is to give your imagination some exercise, even it's just a slow walk. In my experience the result is usually some hardly coherent nonsense that I immediately want to throw away. But then I read it again some time later, and maybe a line or a paragraph or just an idea will inspire something else, something worthwhile.

So remember that next time you can't think of anything. Grab a notebook and your favorite pencil, find a cozy spot and just write down whatever pops into your head.
If nothing pops, then Helpful Hint #2 is "look around". Write what you see. For example:

My cat is orange and cuddly
Ben's putting on his shoes
A blanket is crumpled up on the floor
Is that a stuffed moose?

See? That's what I saw, and while it may not make any sense it does sort of make a funny little rhyme. (For the record, it's not a REAL moose that's stuffed, just a toy.)

I hope you've found this worth reading and helpful in some way. Somehow it's helped me enormously, writing this blog post. Writing/blogging doesn't seem like such a chore anymore and I actually have ideas for more posts here. They may take a while to put together, though, so please be patient and don't give up on my little Story Club.

Sincerely,
A Writer No Longer On The Block