I got stuck while writing yesterday, so I said to my friend Writer’s Block, “Okay, Mr. Block. Let’s take a walk and get a burrito.” So we did. And we came back full of burritos and ideas.
The surest way to get over a block in the creative process is to acknowledge it and maybe sit patiently with it.
I know that runs counter to what we normally do, which is fight with the muses until they relent and we can get a few more words down, but I think acknowledging the block peacefully is the better course of action.
Why?
Because if the block has come, perhaps it is the creative process telling us that we need to pause. Think. Do something else. But maybe that’s just me. I tend to believe that things happen for a reason, and if I believe that when the words are flowing, then I have to stick to that paradigm even when the well (seemingly) runs dry.
Here are some ways that I deal with creative blockages:
1. I lean back in my chair and take a few big breath. This form of meditation is quite effective, actually. When I’m hunched in front of my computer for a long time, sometimes my body just needs a new posture. Often, after small shift in body, the mind often frees up.
2. I close the project and walk away. In life, I don’t get into fights every time someone gets on my nerves. Why is writing any different? Sometimes, the best course of action is to simply walk away from the frustration and live to write another day.
3. I write words I know I’ll delete. Sometimes, I just let the story have some fun, even if it’s not a “fun” place. I don’t want jokes in a murder scene, so I write them then delete them. I think this is akin to when my parents would let me and my brother run around in the parking lot before solemn occasions so that we’d tire outselves out.
4. I try a new direction to get back on the straight path. I was driving with a friend in Minnesota once and we started to turn in circles on black ice on the freeway. He let the car move in the directions it needed to go until we came to a gentle stop on the side of the road. He didn’t fight what the car wanted to do. He let it roll. Once we were safe, he pointed the car back toward our destination and continued on. Do you see?
5. I work on something else entirely. In this scenario, I don’t walk away from the computer (like in #2 above). Instead, I just turn my attention to something else. A blog post. Article research. Sometimes, like magic, a main-project insight will hit me while I’m working on something else, and just like that, I’m back.
How do you get over the block? Let us know!