It is the thing that no one wants to talk about, that feeling that there is something just waiting to be expressed, tearing at the seams of the mind, but for what ever reason a black cloud is blocking the way. Yes, I am talking about that enemy to creative thinkers everywhere: writer’s block.
My first experience with the dreaded writer’s block came when I was in high school and I was asked to write a poem or story for one of my English classes. I felt that for whatever reason nothing I wrote was deep or had any meaning beyond “I am an angst ridden and sleep deprived American teenager.”
I kicked the block by waiting it out, simply taking a break from trying to be express anything and simply focus on life and somehow it worked. Some of my favorite poems were written when I was in high school and stopped caring about having a point or what other people thought.
Now I find myself in a similar situation where, for whatever reason, nothing I write seems to have any meaning, and if it doesn’t mean anything for me I am sure that it doesn’t for other people either.
Last week’s poetry slam put on by the C & C was a great opportunity to hear from other people who enjoy writing. Many people bared their souls and through their verse it became apparent that they wrote because they felt inspired, that the words just dripped out of them and by sharing them they came alive.
I didn’t quite feel that way. I struggled to find a poem that I could read out loud that didn’t make me cringe inside. I am my own worst critic; perfecting a piece so I like it is harder than making other people like it.
I keep reminding myself that John Milton wrote “Paradise Lost” towards the end of his life and even Shakespeare wrote the mediocre “Timon of Athens” before “King Lear.”
Writing is one of those things where hitting a home run while first at bat is hard to do. Many writers strike out their first time but get up and do it again and maybe get the grand slam late in the ninth inning, or in the case of some, long after they returned to the dugout.
Writer’s block does not have to be the end-all-be-all of a writing career. Sometimes taking a break and simply soaking up life can be the best remedy for an uninspired mind. To my fellow students who are suffering from the black cloud: if writer’s block hits, don’t despair; when it is ready it will come.
