Writer’s Block: The Struggle With Laziness

I’ve had a severe case of “writer’s block” for the last few weeks. There have been a few different stories or topics that I’ve truly wanted to write about, but for the life of me, I couldn’t seem to stay focused or fully realize the present topic. It’s safe to say that this is my longest tenured amount of time without writing something mildly creative. Even my movie reviews have suffered, feeling stale and not worthy of my time.

What I could do is blame all of this on the post-grad blues—not being able to find a job or longing for the once bastardized homework. The lack of a muse could also become the scapegoat, but I believe that the culprit I’ve been searching for is laziness.

What makes one lazy? I could easily indent, skip a few lines and throw the Webster’s Dictionary definition in your face, but that would only relay the bare-bones nature of it all. I could also find a quote from a doctor or psychologist describing laziness as some form of neural triggering or some jargon I don’t rightly understand, but again, I won’t. Laziness is both a mental and physical burden, maybe even occurring at once. It surrounds a person and engulfs them like quicksand. Laziness contributes to writer’s block in the same way Cobb causes inception inside of a mark’s mind. Topics shift like tectonic plates, causing you to stumble at every idea. With this in mind, one is never focused on the task at hand, and leads an artist to struggle and struggle until finally their canvas is covered with either a subpar work or a barren and blank literary wasteland. I’m sure you’ve all heard or seen the old cliche of writing a sentence, crumbling it up and tossing it over your shoulder, yes? Well, news flash: it’s still a big portion of a writer’s process during this tumultuous time.

How can you overcome this? As previously mentioned, laziness is both mental and physical. Just because you hit the gym everyday doesn’t mean your mind isn’t lazy, and the same can be said about the other side of the coin. In this case, it’s not about being focused (this isn’t a case for adderall or pre-workout supplements), it is about the hunger, drive, or want to write. You can’t boast about being a writer if you have nothing to show for it.

One piece of fiction I revert back over and over again when I have nothing to write about or lack creativity is The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s language is beautiful, but maybe too beautiful for its own good. It is true that the roaring 20's was a much different, and dare I say, smarter period in history. The upper and middle classes speak with such panache in the novel that one begins to wonder if it was remotely similar to the real world. Whatever the case, real or not and difficulty aside, Fitzgerald dealt with Writer’s Block and ended up creating (arguably) the Great American Novel.

The reason I look back at the book is because of Carraway’s descriptive nature; everything is intricately and beautifully detailed down to a T and features long forgotten words that most writers will only know from the use of a thesaurus when their own work is becoming stale. The romanticized accounts of Daisy and Gatsby are what get me, though. It’s truly like reading poetry without having to worry about iambic pentameter or any of that jazz. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” This style of diction doesn’t even have to encompass anything too complicated, it just has to tell the truth, which is does. It line has soul and truth to it, leading to a beautiful experience that always inspires me, even if in the slightest ways.

It may seem like I’m going into minute detail about this subject, possibly being of no help to you, the reader. Well, I will apologize for that, but I never insisted that is was some pompous thesis of findings that I’ve procured. This is merely intended to be a wake-up call, to myself and to you. If you haven’t begun to write, keep at that wall until it tumbles down. Since starting this little ditty, I’ve been able to start a short story that I’m completely in love with. Laziness is something you just need to shake, maybe after a week of doing absolutely nothing constructive you’ll realize this and your writer’s block will be gone…for now.

Project your thoughts onto the page and in no time, you’ll be back at the top of your game.

Or don’t.

I don’t need help getting out of this funk anymore, so why should I even care if you’re not competing against me? I think Hemingway would agree and your mindset should be the same.