Amia's Nesting Blog

I Survived The Dreaded Writer's Block

I am happy beyond words. I am grateful. I am content. I feel like doing a Gene Kelley dance on my snow-covered roof. So many articles, books, and blogs overflow with the fearful reality of Writer’s Block. (Oh my!). I now stand before you, (actually, I am sitting on my couch with my boxer curled next to me), to say that yes I had the dreaded disease, and survived!

Writing has always come easy to me. I was perplexed when I heard everyone bellyache about it. You just sit down and write. What can be easier than that? My arrogance carried me through a news-writing job, endless college papers, a house fire that consumed all of my work, a car accident that laid me up for months, and a painful break-up of a writing group I created. I wrote through it all, often using the creating process to help me survive it all. Then one day, I stopped writing. It happened that fast. One day I wrote, the next day I did not. Nor the next or the next. I don’t even want to think about all the months I wasted as my guilt built my self-imposed wall higher and higher. Not to mention all the times I have been unable to read a favorite author, knowing my own beloved characters were mournfully awaiting their own turn in immortalized print.

One huge reason I have been flipping out so much is that my daughter just turned 21. This date has always been a milestone for me. I thought by now I would be rich and famous. (Well, at the very least, have a dozen or so published books under my belt). After spending a wonderful 23 years serving my awesome children, this represents my time, when their mummy can walk into the limelight a free agent, without guilt.

The closer this monumental time neared, the less I was able to write. IIt was not for want of ideas. I have a couple of dozen fiction stories I have never quite got around to retyping and sending off. I have several novels, both in the works and finished. Every day I see or hear things I just know would make a great article if I would just do my job. Increasingly, I felt a pressure building, and I knew something had to give.

I sprained my ankle three weeks ago. For two weeks, I was able to keep busy without actually being creative. Now in my defense, I have been continuing to log onto my writing sites and stay active. I started my blog. I even upgraded my membership, which carried its own weight of purpose. I joined a couple of writing groups and read countless articles. Then it happened, as easily as taking a breath. Something like when you are humming, trying to remember a tune, and then suddenly burst into song. (When everyone stares at you like you are crazy). I had to get down some ideas that refused to budge. I thought I would work on some research I had been planning for a novel, and instead, wrote three chapters! The next day I did another 10 pages. I am writing this after completing a character evaluation that had eluded me for weeks. I want to throw open my door and scream down the street, “I’m bacckkk!”

I always knew I would be cured of writer’s block. I love the entire writing process. It is too important to my own mental health. My writing oasis is where I go when I am happy, or sad, or too ticked to get it all out orally. It is where I have wonderful beings born in my mind, waiting impatiently to come out and play and have their own voices heard. Will the dreaded bug ever infect me again? I sure hope not. In the future, I am going to use every skill I possess to make sure it does not. Just in case, does anyone know if companies are marketing a preventive shot for Writer’s Block? I will be the first in line!

AmiaEagle


Note; I would like to thank Patricia Gilliam and all the authors who wrote articles that inflamed my writing muse again.