Writer’s Block
I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever suffered from writer’s block.
There have been times when I didn’t write as much as others. But I’ve never been truly blocked.
What happens to me is what I call “writer’s flood“. My head gets flooded with ideas. Ideas for books, for ebooks, for pictures, for characters, for music and lyrics to go along with stories, for…etc. etc. etc.
Now, sometimes that can almost feel like a writer’s block because I have to turn on my filters. And you know what happens when you install filters on your water faucet. Yep, they eventually get clogged. But a new filter easily clears the water flow again. That’s not so easily done for the idea filters in my head.
You hear a lot of writers and marketers talk about “speed writing” or “freeform writing” or several other names for it. This is where they suggest you sit down and start writing everything that comes into your head…even if it’s just to say something like “this is boring” 100 times. They say “write…don’t edit”. Now, I can see merit to this because it at least gets you and the paper or blank screen working together.
But…I’ve been writing for decades, and I’ve always edited my writing in my head. It feels so wonderful to have the words in there swirling around…and I just see them in my mind’s eye and start plucking them down like ripe apples. Maybe it’s because most of my writing life has been in the songwriting vein. But even as I’m writing this very blog post, I’m simply word processing in my head. Then I type it out, see if I misspelled anything and move on to the next sentence or paragraph.
I don’t recommend it for everyone, but I don’t recommend against it either. The main thing is…find the writing style your head and your hands like. Then set them free.
One last note on that…I believe the longer you live the easier this style of writing is. And that’s because you have more and more of life’s experience living in your head. Again…set it free.