The Horrors of Writer’s Block
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A man, who has writer’s block, attempts to write. Photo Credit: Drew Coffman https://goo.gl/qiIeqy[/caption]
As I sit here, laptop in lap, Word document open, and pen and paper beside me, I have absolutely nothing to say or write. I rack my brain for possible funny anecdotes from my experiences with reading or writing, and I come up with nothing, nada, zilch. I have become so very frustrated with my fingertips hovering over the keyboard, and their refusal to strike the keys on the keyboard to produce a text. I try my best to jolt myself into the writing process, but to no avail. I am left with a blank and untitled document. The time I set aside to write blog posts, essays, emails, and everything in-between is mostly spent with me staring at the wall, waiting for the light bulb to go off over my head.
As writers, we are plagued every now and then with writer’s block — a psychological inhibition, preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece of writing. Suddenly, with the arrival of writer’s block, we seem to believe that we can no longer produce any satisfactory or decent material, and this frustration and lack of confidence seems to prolong our writer’s block. Whether it is an original thesis for our class, a chapter in our book, or a blog post for Blooming Twig, we, as students, novelists, and writers, have experienced some form of writer’s block on the road to a completed text.
From the time I was assigned my first essay in seventh grade to this very blog post, I have continuously encountered writer’s block. With each new writing assignment, I stare at a blank document frustrated and upset at my lack of creative juices. I have never been able to spit out a one-page response in an hour, let alone a full-fledged essay in a matter of hours. It takes countless rewrites, hours of editing, and several outlines in the trashcan to create anything worth submitting or publishing. And sometimes, I am not entirely happy with the product I have produced. Thoughts of what another writer, perhaps a more experienced writer, could have written plague my head before, during, and after my writing process. Would they have started the text like that? Would they think this phrasing is confusing or awkward? Would they rearrange the sentences?
But, why does writer’s block affect me so greatly? Why is it that every time I have to write a simple blog post or an essay I am left watching my blinking cursor and dauntingly blank screen?
It is my belief that I am the reason for the ever-recurring plague of writer’s block in my life. As the definition of writer’s block suggests, it is a psychological inhibition that prohibits us from writing, meaning it is all in our heads! We create our own writer’s block, whether it is because of lack of confidence, boredom, or lack of sleep. As for me, it is my lack of confidence in my writing that produces the recurring presence of my writer’s block. While I believe deep down that I am a decent writer, I mean how could I have survived all those English and Writing courses if I wasn’t, there is still a little voice in my head that causes me to second guess every word, phrase, and paragraph I type on my computer or write on a sheet of paper. This voice has followed me from my inception as a writer to the present day. I have spent countless days and hours attempting to string together an entertaining and relatable text for my readers, and even this six hundred word blog post has taken me hours to write.
While writer’s block can be absolutely frustrating and annoying, I have come to accept this as a part of my writing process. I may not be able to spit out a novel in a matter of weeks or write an essay hours before the due date, but if you give me a few extra days to account for a lot of wall staring, I am sure to give you something worthwhile to read!
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