This post is inspired by my dear AR friend, Edith Wharton.
I hear about it, and have even claimed to have it. It depresses us AR addicts, causes novelists to lose contracts (and possibly their minds!), and brings poets to tears. It's called writer's block.
What is writer's block? Is it really a lack of ideas, having nothing to talk about? Or is it something more? I thought I'd share a couple of my thoughts, and maybe help you to get blogging again in the meantime.
#1 Reason for writer's block: This is just a theory, largely untested, and primarily based on those in my SOI. (Sphere of influence.) I believe writer's block is a case of "I wrote all this, and it's awesome, and all my other ideas suck". In other words, we are too hard on ourselves, and have come to the conclusion that any and every idea we come up with is hardly "better than the others", "something people want to read", or "not pure and utter sh!t". We are perfectionists when it comes to writing (those of us who suffer from writer's block) and are looking for the Holy Grail of blogs/novels/writing. Perhaps we're focusing too much on getting a featured post. Or getting lots of comments. Or simply obsessed with making our personality come through on paper. (Guilty!) I know from writing novels, poetry, and blogs that these things do happen. For example, while working on my novel for an independent study my senior year, I got a bad case of "writer's block". I couldn't get another word on paper. I was so frustrated. I know why I couldn't continue, though. The story seemed so great so far. It poured out of me easily, and when it was beginning to circulate through the school and people started raving about it, the mental block started. It was essentially "how am I going to keep it as good as it is so far?"
#2 Reason for writer's block: I firmly believe this theory. Maybe track for yourself and see if it's true.
I used to write A LOT. No lie - I probably have about 200 poems that I wrote over approximately four years. When I started making a portfolio, I was typing up all the handwritten poems and adding them to a binder. I began to notice a trend, and started tracking it. Most of my poems were written between the 12th and the 21st of the month, every month, for three years. When I say most, I mean 95% of them fell within those dates. I would write 20 poems a month (approximately), and one would be from a date outside of the dates I mentioned. So I began to purposely try to write outside of those dates. When I would go back and read them, you could tell that they were forced, and it wasn't just creativity flowing. So my thought? We have a "time of the month" to write.
*Updated - #3 Reason for writer's block: Edith raised another point that I've debated about writer's block, as well. I believe that (especially as real estate agents) we can be very competitive. Am I wrong? I'm sure there's a competitive side of you. Admit it. However, just because we're competitive doesn't mean that we are confident, self assured, and comfortable with ourselves. As Edith put it, "...everybody else's posts are so powerful, how can or could I compete?" I get the same way. I have a tenency to think that everyone does an incredible job, and wish I could do that... Therefore, you result in theory #3.
Anyway, that's my thoughts on writer's block. Does anyone have any other thoughts? I'd love to hear them! (And I'm sure Edith would, too! :)
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