Claire, as with every issue of this phenomenal publication, this one is brilliant and yes, as Nizaar says, a tough act to follow! Here are my dos centavos ....
(1) Is it a block or is it part of the cycle? We ebb and flow creatively, and output has to be balanced by pausing to, ya know, feed. Sometimes these cycles are slow, with each period (output and intake; activity and rest) lasting months; other times there are several cycles in a day or week. It can be helpful to study what our patterns are, if for no other reason than to be kinder to ourselves when we're not producing.
(1b) We are not meant to be producing all the time. Humans weren't designed that way. Myths born of capitalism and all that jazz.
(2) I personally find that it is muuuuuuuuch easier to stay in flow, generate new ideas and follow through with current ones in the company of others. To your point about making an appointment with yourself, I've been finding co-working spaces to be enormously helpful in keeping me moving and focused.
Thank you for the wisdom, for the plug(!), and for being you.
I love all of this. The question about cycles, the reminder that creativity is not capitalist, the nudge to find community...you've got me thinking deeply, Joy! Thank you for weighing in!
Overwhelm Block is a great addition to the list! Someone also recently told me about the "Wall of Awful" (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg). Sometimes not doing the thing we intend to do becomes a brick in the wall between us and the thing we need/want to do - when we avoid it or fail at it over and over again the wall gets bigger. Pretty soon, we're avoiding the Wall as well as the thing itself.
Wow, it's virtually impossible to follow an incredible act like Claire : ) But, hi, hello, "professional" writer here. Well, advertising/branding writer at least, not the real kind. Anyways, more often than not, I'm able to sit in my little orange office with my two screens, burning Onyx candle, and book shelf full of books I've never read and will likely never read — "my writing space" — and rip good shit off, no problem. However, the dreaded block does happen, usually when I least expect it and especially when I can least afford the delay. The struggle is indeed real. So ever since my days at ad school, I've gotten pretty good at "writing" when I'm not in my writing space. I once wrote an award-winning TV campaign for SPAM in the shower (I know, I know, the shower, how cliché). I've also found I have a proclivity for poignancy when I'm driving (over the decades, I've mastered writing in a pad while not taking my eyes off the road, but please do use the record function on your iPhone if you're going to try this). Literally hundreds of my best ad headlines and commercial scripts have been written behind the wheel. What it comes down to, I suppose, is sometimes the best time to write is when you're not actually sitting down to write, and sometimes the best place to write isn't your "writing place". I am most certain you have great ideas and plenty to say, so I do hope you find your groove.
Way to bust a myth, Zaar - that writing must take place in a sacred, designated "writing cave"...or a smoke-filled Paris cafe a la Ernest Hemingway. I love how you've found what sparks your creativity and just rolled with it (driving pun).
Claire, as with every issue of this phenomenal publication, this one is brilliant and yes, as Nizaar says, a tough act to follow! Here are my dos centavos ....
(1) Is it a block or is it part of the cycle? We ebb and flow creatively, and output has to be balanced by pausing to, ya know, feed. Sometimes these cycles are slow, with each period (output and intake; activity and rest) lasting months; other times there are several cycles in a day or week. It can be helpful to study what our patterns are, if for no other reason than to be kinder to ourselves when we're not producing.
(1b) We are not meant to be producing all the time. Humans weren't designed that way. Myths born of capitalism and all that jazz.
(2) I personally find that it is muuuuuuuuch easier to stay in flow, generate new ideas and follow through with current ones in the company of others. To your point about making an appointment with yourself, I've been finding co-working spaces to be enormously helpful in keeping me moving and focused.
Thank you for the wisdom, for the plug(!), and for being you.
I love all of this. The question about cycles, the reminder that creativity is not capitalist, the nudge to find community...you've got me thinking deeply, Joy! Thank you for weighing in!
Great info here. I think I have Overwhelm Block: so much to do to move forward on my initiative while so much to do in life. :)
Overwhelm Block is a great addition to the list! Someone also recently told me about the "Wall of Awful" (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg). Sometimes not doing the thing we intend to do becomes a brick in the wall between us and the thing we need/want to do - when we avoid it or fail at it over and over again the wall gets bigger. Pretty soon, we're avoiding the Wall as well as the thing itself.
Wow, it's virtually impossible to follow an incredible act like Claire : ) But, hi, hello, "professional" writer here. Well, advertising/branding writer at least, not the real kind. Anyways, more often than not, I'm able to sit in my little orange office with my two screens, burning Onyx candle, and book shelf full of books I've never read and will likely never read — "my writing space" — and rip good shit off, no problem. However, the dreaded block does happen, usually when I least expect it and especially when I can least afford the delay. The struggle is indeed real. So ever since my days at ad school, I've gotten pretty good at "writing" when I'm not in my writing space. I once wrote an award-winning TV campaign for SPAM in the shower (I know, I know, the shower, how cliché). I've also found I have a proclivity for poignancy when I'm driving (over the decades, I've mastered writing in a pad while not taking my eyes off the road, but please do use the record function on your iPhone if you're going to try this). Literally hundreds of my best ad headlines and commercial scripts have been written behind the wheel. What it comes down to, I suppose, is sometimes the best time to write is when you're not actually sitting down to write, and sometimes the best place to write isn't your "writing place". I am most certain you have great ideas and plenty to say, so I do hope you find your groove.
Way to bust a myth, Zaar - that writing must take place in a sacred, designated "writing cave"...or a smoke-filled Paris cafe a la Ernest Hemingway. I love how you've found what sparks your creativity and just rolled with it (driving pun).