December 01st, 2018

So You Have Writer's Block?

Congratulations!

​by Carolyn Zaikowski

​So you have writer’s block. Congratulations! This means you’re officially a writer. I’m not just trying to make you feel better. Writer’s block has zero connection to your ability as a creative person. All writers on the face of the planet, through all of human history, have experienced it. If they say they haven’t, you can tell them Carolyn Zaikowski said they must be a creature from another galaxy. But if you’re anything like me, you sometimes want the end product right now.

 Oh, the instant gratification of a masterpiece appearing out of nowhere, like magic! If the process is uncomfortable, long, or chaotic, and if I don’t have a complete vision to start with, something must be wrong. Right? 
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In the backs of our minds, many of us believe there is a secret path to a tower in the woods full of beautiful geniuses who drink wine and eat grapes all day while getting foot rubs. They write in all cursive with quill pens, descending together into mystical flow states, simply overcome by muses, manifesting masterpiece after masterpiece. We’re convinced we’re the only ones not invited to the party.  
 
But it’s become clear to me that “block” isn’t even really what’s happening most of the time we say we’re blocked. It’s that we’ve skipped the first part of the writing process altogether. We haven’t practiced turning on the most important part of our writing brain—the part that warms up and generates ideas. We haven’t even remembered we need to turn it on.
 
It’s like wondering why the television’s not working, even though we never plugged it in.  
 
We are seeing an impenetrable wall, when what’s actually in front of us is a door that needs gentle opening. We’re seeing a forest and forgetting that the trees are made of dirt and seeds. We’re seeing a drought when what’s actually there, to paraphrase Peter Elbow, is a pump that needs priming. The rusty, chunky water has to seep out first before you get to the goods. The rust and the chunks aren’t optional. And we need to foster a sense of openness, of putting down our egos just a little, in order to feel the value in them.  
 
Consider how seeds grow into plants with water, time, patience, breathing room, generosity, and presence. With compost. And with poo! Plants don’t grow if we’re yelling at them, shaming them, and digging them up neurotically to check the roots. And roots, by the way, aren’t linear; they are intricate, matrix-like rhizomes which you can’t see at all when you glance the grown plant.  
 
Authentic, interesting writing is born the exact same way.
 
Building trust in the writing process means going against some of the modes Western culture has taught us. We’ve got to let go of a self-judgmental, purely results-oriented mindset—and learn to be patient with and connected to the strange, sometimes mysterious creative spirit.
 
Like birth, writing takes gestation, breathing exercises, proper nutrition, preparation, and a clear, healthy birth canal that isn’t stuffed up by our tendencies towards overthinking and ego. It takes the, uh, more intense and even icky parts, too. The morning sickness. The hormones. The placenta. The moments of terror, tears, and exclamations of, “Why in god’s name am I doing this???” And all of the necessary contractions and releases.
 
To put it plainly: When people try to power through the brainstorming and warmup phases, the result is almost invariably writing that doesn’t reach its potential, with writers who might not even realize what their potential is. Sometimes the result is writers who get down on themselves to the point of giving up altogether.
 
But we’re in luck! So many tried and true methods for overcoming writer’s block exist. From classic methods like freewriting and prompts, to unusual methods involving the sensory world and physical space, to learning how to be present and foster a genuine connection to our creativity, there are hundreds of ways to get the water flowing. And, get this: These kinds of exercises are precisely how the Chosen Ones got into that tower.
 
Discussion: What are your biggest writing blocks? How have you overcome them in the past? What new methods of breaking through will you try in the future?

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CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the novels In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013.) Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in such publications as The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, Dusie, Huffington Post, and Everyday Feminism. She holds an MFA from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.

Upcoming Workshop with Carolyn Zaikowski:
• 6-Week Short Story Writing Intensive (Tuesdays, September 8 - October 12)​