THE WRITER’S CURSE
Laptop is ON!
Screen is lit!
Cushions backing me up and the keyboard waiting for me!
So here it is! GET SET GO!
Start the story!
Story?
Okayyyyy….story…let’s do it!
Seconds turned into minutes and then into hours. Finally with a thud I slam the laptop shut! “I quit!”, I proclaim to the blank screen.
For the past few months, this has been my routine. Sitting before a blank screen or a blank sheet of paper, wanting to pour my heart out, but not coming up with anything.
Wait!
Aren’t these the symptoms?
Yes they are!
The most dreadful thing that can happen to a writer…
The WRITER’S BLOCK!
A very common phenomenon that strikes established novelists and beginners alike at some point or the other.
Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which a writer loses the ability to produce new work, or experiences a creative slowdown.
In simple words, it’s when your imaginary friends won’t talk to you!
There are many famous writers who have experienced a writer’s block in their careers. While there are some who took years to overcome it, some have never even faced it!
People say that you face trouble in writing when you’re too distracted or disturbed by something! But that confuses me. Why would it be hard to write when you’re disturbed? Or distracted? You could write about those distractions! In fact, you can write about anything!
Because everything and everyone around you has its own story to tell!
Writing isn’t just a hobby.
It’s not scribbling some words and making them rhyme with each other. It’s not making use of huge words that are hard to spell and making your sentence compete with Shashi Tharoor’s tweets. It’s not making complex sentences that anyone reading it can’t understand.
Writing, simply, is pouring your heart out.
If reading is like breathing in, writing is just breathing out.
A place where you can be yourself, where you needn’t fear anyone else, where you are not judged! Somewhere where you can make your dream fantasies come true through your characters! Somewhere where you can live the life you always wanted!
Writing, simply, is your world within the world.
There is no perfect time to write.
As Anne Tyler said, “If I waited till I felt like writing, I’d never write at all!”
As many say, bad writing is better than not writing at all.
There are many ways to overcome a writer’s block.
- First of all, try to eliminate the distractions that were keeping you away from writing. Try changing the environment you’re in, take a walk or listen to music. Have some coffee (my favourite).
- Dance or practice yoga. Move your body and the mind follows. Meditation and long breaths help because a relaxed mind is more open to creativity!
- Another thing that can be done is stepping away from what you are writing for and go for something creative. For example, drawing or gardening. Keep yourself busy for a few hours and then resume to writing. The key is keeping the creative part of your brain active and then resuming to the flow of writing.
But out of all of them, the best way to overcome a writer’s block is by writing.
Okay, you CAN write. Just stop thinking about everything else. Write something. Just few lines. No need to make it fancy or elegant. Just write what you feel right at that moment. And the rest will just flow in. If you still feel like you have nothing to write about and is facing a block then write about it.
Because writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all!
So what was I talking about? Yeah! Me having writer’s block.
Oh wait, aren’t I writing about it?
