____________________________________________________________________ And What It Aint Almost everywhere you go among writers, you hear the wail of, "God, I'm blocked! I haven't been able to write a single word...". Then, the predictable commiseration from fellow sufferers, past-sufferers, or those who shake in fear they'll be the next ones to succumb to it. Why would someone who is normally able to set pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and let fly, suddenly come to a dead halt- frozen and fairly miserable. I have a theory about this. It may be all wet, but it's one I'd like you to give some thought to and perhaps find a way around the huge boulder you've placed in your own path, that seems insurmountable while you're squaring off against it, but it isn't. First of all, I would like to say that all writers feel like frauds; feel like they've had a few 'lucky runs', but deep down they suspect there is no real talent there and somehow they've been able to fool everyone now and again. Let me say, unless you are one of those damn mimics who copy other styles and pilfer themes from those around you, if what you've written is good, it's good--and it wasn't accidental. So then, the first thing writer's block ISN'T, is loss of luck. Many of us are afraid that there are only so many poems in us; that when we are born, God gives us a sack of words and ideas and it is finite, and one day we'll reach the bottom and it will be empty. This is like being afraid of the monster under the bed- there is NO monster under the bed yet we remain afraid nonetheless. Therefore, the second thing writer's block IS, is fear; fear of failure, fear of being less than you've been in the past. If you sit down and really think about that anxiety, you'll realize it's because you have been writing with an audience out in front, just beyond the footlights- and I can't stress this enough: WRITING IS A SOLITARY BUSINESS. It is the writer expressing himself TO himself; lose sight of that, and you're in for a hellacious ride and a lot of flop sweat.--- Write faithfully, every day. Write drafts, hone poems already written--- write effortlessly to please an audience of one and I guarantee the boulder will roll away. Writer's block also happens when a poet tries to write the 'BIG POEM' - the IMPORTANT subject, the be all and end all, but for heaven's sake, look around you; be observant. All things great and small are fodder. Minute attention will produce a poem.-- Keep your senses, your heart, your brain awake to everything, and above all, pay attention. For the writer, relax into it and the words will begin on their own. Blockage also happens when you can think of the middle of a thing, but not the start, the opener. Fine. Write the middle. Write the end. You can begin anywhere and edit later. Blockage occurs when there is rigidity of any kind: the lockjaw of being afraid, the freezing of the impetus because there is no time to write, but listen to your thoughts; you are writing all the time. Photograph a thing with words instead of film. Remember textures, colors, feelings and start introducing them into the mix. Hear sounds. Smell smells. Tell the stories to YOURSELF and you will enjoy the telling and in the joy of doing it, you're actually DOING it again. Like a child learning to ride a bike, fear is there until you forget it and just pump. Feel the breeze- forget that you might fall, BECOME the wheel. Break the block by writing around it - writing through it; that's the only way it's done. Every time. by~ ruffledpanties |
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