When I am writing, one of my biggest fears is probably one of the more common fears....dreaded writer's block. I think this is mostly because a majority of my writing experience is made up of school writing assignments, all topics that have been chosen for me. What happens if I can't think of something worthy to say? What if the things I have to say don't accurately represent my feelings? What if I don't fully understand all the information? It gets to a point where I spend more time over-analyzing then forming relevant thoughts for whatever writing project I am working on. I think that the more I worry about not having the relevant facts I need, the more I stray away from the ultimate goal of having a well-thought out project. I don't usually feel that when I am journaling. I think this is because I usually journal free-thought style, and I don't have to follow any particular guildlines. What I write when I am journaling is un-edited, unprocessed thoughts. They are true to what I am feeling at any given moment. In contrast, writing projects for school must meet certain criteria and I fear that those guildlines turn out to be more of an restraint to my writing than an asset. When I feel constrained in the way that I write, whether it is with criteria or for some other problem, I feel I struggle the most to find inspiration.
I think if I learned anything from previous experience, it would be that the more I struggle to make something work, the less likely I am to find inspiration. If I didn't panic about writing a well-written paper, and just wrote what I knew, then I would probably fare much better. Instead I hit a mode of panic when it comes to "crunch time" and I still don't have the paper written, or even worse, it isn't written in a way that I am happy with. Eventually, I hope I will learn, and maybe ease my dreaded writer's block.
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Writer's block is inevitable. In fact, having that flow of inspiration stop happens to any of our creative interests. I am studying to get my associates in culinary arts and there are times when i just can't think of anything to cook for my family, or don't have any desire to and i think "What's wrong with me, I'm supposed to be a cook!"
ReplyDeleteWriter's block conjures vivid mental pictures for me of sitting in an igloo with an ice boulder tied to my brain, freezing out every creative thought. It gives me the shivers.
ReplyDeleteYour point about writing by assignment is one I've made myself. Trying to summon inspiration for "Elucidate your position on the hemispheric realignment of neurotransmitters through the corpus collosum in 1500 words" is daunting to say the least.
On the other hand, fruminous bandersnatches leave little to be imagined in the way of fantasy creatures - what hasn't already been done? I think the trick must be - be yourself. In time, the words will come.
Suzi