There are generally three levels of block encountered by writers and other creatives.
All are relatively easily curable – permanently.
The first type of block you may encounter is where your creative juices temporarily dry up.
It can happen on one of your book writing sessions or when you just have to get that sales proposal out or that blog written.
You can sometimes just run out of ideas. Your Creative Muse has left you.
Don’t fret, it happens to all writers.
Just take a break, make a cup of tea or ideally go for a walk. Don’t think about what you are writing, just pay attention to where your consciousness lies. Is it in the front of your head? If so move it back to the centre – to your third eye. Remember to use your dream-time too.
The second type of block is when life just gets in the way.
So you set out with the best of intentions and perhaps things get hectic at work or a problem comes up in your family life or in a relationship. The upshot is that all thoughts of writing go out of the window.
This happens too and, again, don’t fret but do at least two things:
Firstly, think about what learnings you can get from the situation – can you use it as source material perhaps?
Secondly, try to at least keep up a daily writing exercise, like Julia Cameron’s ‘morning pages’ so you keep flexing your writing muscles.
If this doesn’t work and you really do hit a permanent block, again, don’t worry. See it as an opportunity to break an old, unwanted pattern that almost certainly affects others areas in your life.
Sometimes it’s possible to come to a complete grinding halt. You lose faith in what you are doing and why you are doing it. Perhaps the fun has gone from it. Ask yourself if you are running any negative emotions such as: Fear, Anger, Sadness, Hurt or Guilt.
The third type of block is more drastic.
Old gestalts are brought to the fore. The toys are thrown out of the door and the baby goes out with the bath water. You don’t want to ‘play’ anymore.
You are coming to the point where you really want things to change but perhaps don’t know how.
To help with all types of blocks, I’ve just written and published a free ebook on the subject with interactive exercises and visualisations. You can find it on the amazing new Myebook web site.
It’s called Wordlube – the writer’s unblocker – and it’s designed to be used it liberally to free up your mental cogs & get them whirring again …
Tom Evans, aka the Bookwright, deals with blocks of all kinds and how you can tap into your creative muse in his Unleash the Book Inside workshop. This workshop is also available online for Home Study any where in the world – details here
3 Comments
Yeah, and what really sucks is when they all strike at once. It’s like you’re getting attacked on all fronts.
Hi Shea, blocks are just there for you to learn – the important thing is to work out what you can gain from embracing the block and removing it – that’s what the free ebook does if you follow the 5 day programme – give it a go & let me have your feeback …
I also find it useful to look over past work and maybe gain inspiration. All ideas have to come from somewhere and reading past work can seem to re jig some ideas and finally unclog the creative cobwebs.