A regular practice of writing is very important to cultivate the skills and stamina that writers need to make a career out of their craft but writing regularly also means confronting writers block regularly. What is writers block? It is the condition of being unable to generate new or original ideas and/or being unable to write much without becoming frustrated, feeling creatively drained or blocked.
Many people refer to the creative experience as being “in the flow” and it is true. The flow can feel as effortless as sailing downstream on a raft. Imagine then if suddenly out of nowhere a giant rock appeared in the middle of the stream, only allowing a little water around the sides but most of the water eddies up against the rock and then flows backward creating a pool. Effectively stopping the forward movement. Writer’s block feels just like that. The writing comes easy and the words are flowing onto the page when suddenly the momentum slows, the inspiration dwindles, the words on the page become dull, and the writing soon stops. The mind struggles to understand what is happening and regain a foothold back into the creative space. But the more the mind tries to solve the dilemma the further the writer slides into stagnation. What is a writer to do?
Firstly understand that the mind is made up of two halves that don’t always work in agreement. The left brain is the logical, analytical half that has to make sense of everything. It is organized and linear. The left brain is also largely responsible for language itself so the writer must stay connected to the left brain in order to organize thoughts and feelings and convey them into words and sentences. The right brain is connected to feeling and intuition and doesn’t need things to fit neatly into a category. The right brain is random and follows whatever incites curiosity. It doesn’t weigh the facts but simply moves in the direction of inspiration. It is nonlinear, nonverbal, and can hold many ideas simultaneously, a circle instead of straight line.
Both hemispheres of the brain are necessary for the writer. More so even than other art forms because the writer’s tool of expression(words) is a function of the left brain. Writer’s can’t simply turn off their left brain and move into the right brain to create their work. Both hemispheres of the brain have to work together. Writer’s block occurs when the two sides of the brain try to take over at the same time.
Right brain: “Go ahead. You first.”
Left brain: “No, no, you first.”
Right brain: “I insist, you first.”
Left brain: “Absolutely not, you go first, you are the creative.”
Right brain: “Alright then.”
Left brain: “You’re doing wrong.
Right brain: “Be quiet, I’m on to something here.”
Left brain: “It’s dumb, nobody is going to read that, it doesn’t even make sense.”
Right brain: “Fine, you do it.”
Left brain: “Okay, it’s easy.”
Right brain: “Boring.”
Left brain: “Well at least it makes sense.”
Right brain: “Who cares if no one reads it?”
And so on.
Stalemate. Both sides of the brain are correct and both are incorrect. The only way to make progress is to acknowledge both sides. The right brain trusts whatever is there. It writes whatever happens to come to mind, it meanders and flows along feelings and random images. The left brain follows, making sure that metaphors work, that sentences are clear, and that there is a beginning, a middle and an end. The right brain must relax when the left brain is cutting that fantastic but vague sentence in favor of clarity. And the left brain must stand aside during the creative frenzy of the right brain. The right brain creates. The left brain edits. The right brain must have room to spread out, to be messy and unconventional for anything to appear on the page. The left brain must be allowed to make decisions that are objective.
It is the collaboration of the left and right hemispheres of the brain that will ease writer’s block.
Staying in your right brain is good for rough drafts, generating ideas and connecting the dots. It is necessary for noticing what is missing from a piece of writing. It has a sense when something does or doesn’t work. It follows a gut response to the work.
How to stay in your right brain:
- 1.Play music while you write. Music can keep you in the right brain because it is nonverbal yet highly stimulating. I like to play soundtracks or instrumental music while writing, particularly a first draft of anything.
- 2.Free write for as long as you can without stopping. This will get some momentum going and shift you from analytical thinking.
- 3.Shift from writing to another activity for a few minutes then back to writing. Such as watching a video or checking emails. Even stepping away from the work for a coffee, a phone call or just to water the plants. It is not a distraction but actually a technique if you get back to the work within five or so minutes.
- 4.Telling your left brain to wait until the work is ready for an edit. This may sound a little strange but it helps me to just say, “I understand you’re anxious to work on this piece, and I am looking forward to your insights and editing but I am not quite ready for that yet.” Like I said, weird. But effective.
- 5.While you’re writing tell yourself, “it’s okay, the left brain can fix that later.” Many times I have written what I, at first, thought was junk only to realize that there was something really good in that junk that needed to be extracted. Allowing everything onto the page good and bad is the best strategy. It will keep you in your right brain.
Staying in your left brain is good for editing and outlining drafts. It is excellent at seeing what is on the page and whether or not it is clear. The left brain can be the objective reader and take note of things that need to change.
How to stay in your left brain:
- 1.Making sure you give your right brain plenty of time to get everything out on the page. The good, the bad and the ugly, so to speak. Give the right brain plenty of space to play around with different ideas and weird random connections. Once the right brain is exhausted the left brain can work without interruption or disruption.
- 2.Find a quiet space to do the editing and rewriting. Sometimes using noise cancelling headphones can help create the kind of intense focus the left brain employs.
- 3.Provide goals for the left brain. The left brain likes sequential processes that rely on logic and organization. Providing specific targets and goals keep the left brain active and occupied.
- 4. Avoid any interruptions. The left brain works best on long stretches of time until a section or goal has been met or completed.
- 5.Use a time tracking app or a screen blocking app that locks you out of those distractions and the time tracking app can keep you focused. Sometimes providing your left brain with a reward when you reach a goal can help as well. It takes stamina to stay in the left brain, and the discipline to keep working on something until it is right.
These are just a few of the tools that have helped me. I don’t struggle with writer’s block anymore because I know how to keep the two sides of my brain working as a team. Find out what works for you.
