I used to hear these two words a lot among some of my writer friends and also read about it many times in different articles. I never believed in it. I used to think that if you are a writer and you have a clear idea about what to write the rest is a piece of cake. I remember grinning at them, going home, writing a new short story in a few hours and thinking they were all full of crap. There is no such thing as a writer’s block.
How I hate myself now for assuming that I was better then that. I am experiencing the worst block of my life. I know exactly what I have to do, how to do it and in what way, but have no idea how to start. It’s like a termite that has infiltrated in my brain and is eating everything in its path, leaving only blank spots behind. With this beautiful project in my hands, with all these beautiful ideas sketched in my notebook, and even a couple of starting phrases I still have a dumb look on my face and don’t know what to do.
They all tell me it gets better and at some point something will trigger you back to your normal self again, but I can’t help but wonder when will that be? When am I going to start moving my fingers on the keyboard like lunatic people freshly escaped from the asylum again? When am I going to understand what to do with all this information I have in my hands? My mind is completely shut down, my thoughts are slow or not moving at all and I feel like a pretty little snail (yeah, it had to be a pretty snail). They also tell me that this is normal and that I should take a step back and not think about it for a while. I keep thinking that if I force myself into it, that if I would just remember what was in my head when I conceived the idea, I will be right back on track.
So, what do you do when you have a blockage and can’t move on? What do you use to unblock it? How do you meet your deadlines when your mind is shut down? Any ideas or words of advice? Until then, I will continue to stuff myself with popcorn and inspirational movies every night. Maybe at some point it will pay off 🙂
P.S. I can still write a short story in a few hours even with this damn block in my head. Isn’t that funny? My mind is a mystery or only likes fiction work. Hahaha!
