Writer’s Block

It’s real. and the mere thought strikes fear in the heart if any writer. It’s where you sit down to a blank screen and the blinking curser seems to mock you. And you type nothing.  Bruce Springsteen described it very well in his song Dancing in the Dark, 

“I get up in the evening

And I got nothing to say

I come home in the morning

I go to bed feeling the same way“

I have never had writer’s block. Honest–Never. The reality is that when I sit down in front of my computer, and look at that blank screen, I never know what’s going to come out. Like yesterday, I sat down intending to write the next chapter in my current shifter book. Since my mind is always taken up with my latest story, writing on it is no problem. And yesterday was no exception, so I was surprised when what came out was a blog post on how the role playing game Hârn, a fantasy game, designed by N. Robin Crossby, is a boundless source of inspiration for a romance writer. (read the post).  

I did write the chapter I originally sat down to write with a great deal of energy from written something entirely creative, That experience got me to thinking about writer’s block and why it affects us, or not…

Every four-year-old I have known, including two of my own and a grandson, is an endless source of words. You just have have to ask the right question. Ask, “How was your day?, and you’ll get, “Fine.” But ask about something they are really interested, the video game Fortnight, if it’s Finn, my grandson, or medieval castles when my son was a kid, and they will talk as long as you’ll listen and often longer than that. The point is that they always have a story to tell.

When my son Garrett was in high school. His English class was doing a unit on poetry. The students were tasked to write their own poem. Garrett was immersed in writing, when the teacher moved on to another subject. Garrett didn’t notice. He kept writing.

The teacher said, “Mr. Rohde, would  you like to join us?” 

Garrett told him, “No, I’m writing a poem. When a poem comes into your head, you have to write it down right then or it goes away.” 

He had a point. He wasn’t the first poet, or songwriter or novelist to notice that.

This brings up the age old conundrum, how does being a creative pay the rent? But neither does sitting in front of a  blank screen. Maybe we just have to give ourselves permission to be entirely creative some of the time.