Banish Writers Block Creatively

Annette Young 

Writers block may be the curse of the creative but if you are a determined writer, you will always find ways to overcome it if you can understand why you are struggling.  

 To give you an example, writing has always been a passion of mine, even from an early age and words used to flow like the proverbial river  as I had so many ideas, thoughts and feelings and I never once used to suffer with writers block at all.

In fact, I couldn’t understand why those articles published in writing magazines seemed to make  such a drama about writers block. My views at that time were that surely if you wanted to write enough, then writers block must only affect those whose writing convictions were not as deeply embedded.

Of course, I was writing therapeutically, recording events that happened to me on an intrinsically personal basis (especially through my teenage years) and capturing all that angst on paper was a creative relief. When there is that much new and exciting emotion cursing through the veins, it is easy to channel it consistently.

 Years later when I was experiencing the break -up of my marriage, I suddenly realised that writers block was a REAL problem and for once, instead of being able to relinquish my pain through words, everything felt frozen inside. No longer a steady stream of eloquent words, they were disjointed, forced and there was no pleasure to be gained by trying even to link static sentences together to make a paragraph of sorts.

 I have to admit this went on for some time….a few years in fact, and deeply rooted inner angst is a powerful barrier against creativity. I was traumatised and numb. One day, the creative spark ignited again, ably abetted by my dreams and inspiration surged through me for days.  I then began to write feverishly to make up for lost time. The release from writers block is overwhelming and intensely pleasurable and when that frustrated state has been experienced for some time, it is like shedding layers of oneself, all those experiences come flooding out.

 Knowing that writers block was real, I learned how to avoid it as much as possible and to channel those days when writers block threatened to rear its head once more. It seemed that if I kept my mind open to fresh new writing challenges, I could keep writing even on those days when the words became slow.  I realised that if my mind became frozen due to facing difficulties on any one project,  I simply had to start something new and that project had the ability to overwhelm any inadequacies.  My brain would freeze and then relish the joy as new creative ideas would send any frustrations spiralling….

If you suffer with writers block, keep the brain open but allow it to flirt with as many new ideas that emerge, half formed and let them play with your subconscious mind until viable ideas take root. Most importantly, keep writing, the very act of capturing those words …whether good or bad….will keep writers block at bay.