I made a personal commitment to write at least one blog post a day in order to hone my writing skills. I wrote two posts yesterday so I guess that may be one reason why I couldn’t think of anything to write about today. With that said, I am still sticking to my plan. So, here I am… a writer who cannot think of anything to write about besides my writer’s block. Bear with me, folks, this post is completely free-written.
Have you ever had one of those days wherein you had the urge to write but your mind refused to cooperate with you? For me, this is one of those days.
At about 10 this morning, I opened my laptop and immediately opened up my blog site. I then proceeded to stare at a blank screen for what felt like an eternity. My hands would move to the keyboard and type the word “The”. Then, since I couldn’t think of anything to type, I’d smash my backspace key.
I’d think to myself “Okay. Maybe I’m stressing myself out a bit too much. Just chill. Take a break.” I’d then try to think of anything–ANYTHING!!!–that would get me to calm down. BUT my anxious mind would go “NOOOO! If you take a break, you’ll lose your writing mood. Then, you’ll end up not writing anything!”
And then I’m like, “Oh no. The Anxiety Monster has a point. MUST. NOT. PROCRASTINATE.” So, then, I stared at the screen again.
You know that saying “When you stare too hard at the abyss, the abyss may end up staring back”? I think that may have happened to me. I sat there hypnotized, mesmerized by this glorious blank screen. The screen was sitting there–taunting me, mocking me, laughing at my inability to type a single coherent sentence.
Then, I’d fall into a deep depression. I’d say to myself “WHYYYY? Maybe I’m just not a good writer. Maybe this is why I can’t think of anything to write about today.”
*FLASH-FORWARD* Hours later, after I’ve taken a nice shower, had a nice meal and took some time to think things over, I realized… Hey! Why don’t I just write about writer’s block? Surely, many people will enjoy reading about the ramblings of an anxiety-prone, semi-neurotic young woman.
And so here we are now. *waves at my imaginary audience*
I learned two things today:
- Do NOT stare into the abyss, folks.
- When you can’t think of anything to write, STOP THINKING.
Seriously. I cannot stress the importance of the second point enough. STOP THINKING.
To quote the movie Finding Forrester, “The key to writing is to write, not to think”. When I stopped stressing over what to write about, the words just came.
Sometimes I think we writers just think a bit too much. We fuss over every single little detail. We endlessly read and re-read sentences we’ve written just a couple of seconds ago. We criticize every single phrase we use. We think to ourselves “No. This isn’t good enough. I’m not good enough.”
But the thing is… sometimes, the words just come. Art just happens. Sometimes, we just have to sit back and listen to our guts (or, in this case, our hands).
Try it out sometime. Who knows? You may end up surprising yourself.
A Series of Random Thoughts 