Banish your blockhead

There is a quote from Terry Pratchett that goes, "There's no such thing as writer's block.That was invented by people in California who couldn't write." What a great quote.

undisciplined

the parent who blames the child

rain on blank pages

(#VoMoPo)

It all comes down to one thing: keeping your creative mind stimulated.

Writer's block comes from starving the brain. The mind grows numb from being exposed to mind-numbing stuff. Working too much, sleeping too little, lack of movement... how is a mind supposed to be creative when it's on auto-pilot?

Powering down is a useful & necessary defense mechanism when t comes to self-preservation and mental well-being. A min running on auto-pilot, however, is the social equivalent of wearing sweat pants to the store. No. Just... no. That needs to stop.

There's no one definitive answer to the question of writer's block, especially in times of crisis and uncertainty. Writing is a valuable too in dealing with emotional circumstances, but at the same time, writing about our emotional circumstances only serves to heighten an inner sense of anxiety that ultimately feeds the inability to write anything.

Even when we are collectively going through something on a global level, none of us as individuals are in the same place. And as we learned from the 1970's sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes, "...what might be right for you may not be right for some...." But here are some popular tried and true methods that have worked for others who needed to get their creative blood pumping again.

Take a walk

Get out of your head

Read (A LOT)

Free-write with reckless abandon

Try Cut-Up Poetry

Listen to Poetry Podcasts

Create an instrumental playlist

Unplug

Collaborate

Experiment with different forms

Ignore the inner editor & critic

Change the Point of View

Try Ekphrastic poetry

Be honest with yourself

Forget fear

Develop a routine

If you feel like you've been blocked and none of these suggestions help you banish your blockhead, you might want to re-visit that Pratchett quote. There can be a lot of inspiration in trying to prove to yourself that you can actually write.