Writer’s Block through Different Lenses
The “blank screen” provided a fruitful topic for the previous entry. One of my. Friends mentioned that I had unique take on “writer’s block.” Well for the sake of truth, I could have just accepted the compliment and moved on, however no—no—no—not me. I don’t believe in writier’s bl;oak. Now this pause in writing is not about writing it’s about thinking so let’s start calling it what it is—-thinker’s block. So let’s start there...
If you simply need to get unstuck maybe one of these two or three methods might help. Even if they give you nothing to write they might. Create a little. Calm peaceful spot where you have some3 relaxed simplified attention and so that’s a winner automatically.
First reframe—-Writer’s block is not about writing. And it is about thinking. Now if you are looking at the blank page and thinking you have writier’s block I’ll invite you to take one or two alternate views of your situation. The first is this.... are you ready to write what you expect you should be writing? You see writer’s block is not about what you are writing, it is you thinking about what you should be writing or should have been writing. If we think about eating all afternoon but dopn’tactually eat till dinner time we don’t get all upset about having “snacker’s block,” or if we think about going to the mall while we are watching. Television and don’t leave till the show is over, we don’t have ‘shoppers block.” So there’s one way to redefine things.
a second way is to just start writing—however don’t just freelance away to get the juices flowing. That may or may not give you words toward goal so to speak. Instead, if you are. Wanting to write about a character such as a cook start by getting out your microscope or telescope. Let’s start with the telescope. Let’s say. The cook is baking bread start by saying something like. Tom (the Baker can’t seem to put the finishing touches on the 14th. Loaf of bread he’s. Made today. He is using the finest wheat from the flat golden wheat fields of Kansas, a wheat gfield that has been there since the days when places west of Missouri was the great frontier, a place where the dust bowl nearly crushed a third of our country. Have Tom stinking about given how far this bread has come already over time and space he only has to carry it a little further. Or you could start from the perspective of a grain of wheat that made it’s way through the harvest process to the mill and became the flour that is now on the edge of the table waiting to be folded into this loaf of bread that will be. Served at the Weinstein birthday party. You have then looked at the task. In two distinct ways giving two very different ways of bringing you to the point in time and space and thus presale ting alternate contexts for what is happening and what happens.
Yet another option is reversing time so start with the Weinstein’s dog sitting in the yard eating the crust of. The 14th loaf of bread from last night’s party and following it back to the baker using the last of this special flour, baking the loaf precisely and wrapping it in clear plastic. In short manipulate the. Scene so that you are writing from the perspective of. The bread and giving it a past that connects with the purpose of what the baker is doing. You can deliver a powerful message as the baker did not bake this bread for a dog but many things in the baker’s life might be turning out to. That end these days. Or the party might have been a big waste of glitz...who knows, however the number of perspectives you can create by shifting the time slightly and temporarily is a beautiful thing and it mirrors how we often come upon memories in our minds.
Finally you can turn your block into a twist in the story by creating a block character. What is that? W2ell it’s a character that experiences in the story what you are experiencing while trying to. Write about the event (real or fictional.). If you can’t come up with a full character use the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other metaphor. In short bring the block into the public eye because being stuck loves to hammer away on the person who is feeling alone with the struggle. Shine some light on the issue and make it a sign of progress.
Oh what does this have to do with seeking peace and joy?
Well some of our hardest.times come when we feel stuck without a clear sense of options. If we microscope or telescope our situation we. Often find a starting. Placer two change our response and restart actions and sometimes even shifting our purpose for action. If we temporarily leap in time we sometimes see thenext step or choices of steps forward or we realize that we are not stuck because we don’t know our choices, we are stuck because we believe we control all the results and we don’t like what we imagine we controll. When we recognize it as a control thing sometimes we recognize we don’t want the responsibility linked with our choices,however not acting holds it’s own responsibilities. Finally seeking peace and joy almost always means respecting. The various values and lenses through which we look at any one situation. If we admit that we are stuck because we can’t choose the set of lenses we are going to use for some part of life, from time to time we will also realize there are good points to either way we go with a decision. It’s like having a job to do and only being able to take a limited number of tools to the job site. Most the time you will be just fine and you can use your other possible choices not as something that gnaws on you. But a free back up plan and if back up plans is something you like then your stuck ness has served you well and hasn’t defined you as not able to move ahead successfully.
In short use the block as a chance to change lenses and then it becomes part of the progress needed to approach your purpose. In short writer’s blocks become building blocks. You can let them stand in front of. You or you can climb them and take a look around in life, experiment, explore and exercise curiousity.
When you can honor curiosity then seeking peace and joy can grow in your life space.
Okay it se3ems I’ve had personal grooming block for a day or two and it’s time for me to. Stop writing and start that....TMI yes... have a thankful Thursday
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