Thoughts on Writers Block

I thought I would take a couple of minutes this afternoon and write about writers block. I don’t have a total case of it.  I can and do write.  But, when I write I have the sense that I am writing around things, not about things. Like I have a subject, I have content, and instead of addressing it directly, I just kind of skirt the edges.  It is not a very satisfying experience and I am not really sure why I am doing it.

Every now and then a bit of inspiration manages to make it all the way through and become a finished piece of work. Every now and then something that is inside, waiting to get out, slips out and makes its way to the page as a finished piece.  It seems kind of rare to me.

I find myself self-censoring because I just don’t quite like what I am writing. It is not related to the subject or the content of what I’m writing but rather the form and structure o fit. Almost everything seems to be a near miss.  It feels like I am just slightly off center, just slightly off kilter.

I can’t seem to get back to the center though.  I wonder sometimes if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I don’t write and because I don’t write I don’t like the quality of what I write. In order to move my way through the writers block, I need to simply write more, but I can’t write more because I have writers block.  It is the experience of being slightly off center and hesitant to move back to the center.

All in all it is unlike any prior experience of writers block. Previously when I’ve been blocked there has been a reason why I was blocked, usually some subject or content that had worked its way to the head of the writing queue and was stuck there, backing everything else up until it resolved itself.  I really don’t feel like that this time. I think what I might need to do is simply practice writing – practice, practice and then practice some more until it starts to flow again.

I am not sure that is the solution. But, I did write about it, so that was a step in the right direction.