“The only true obstacle to writing creatively is a lack of faith that appears as fear and self-judgment.” ~ Bonni Goldberg
Writing profoundly affects me, yet I’ve squandered a month of Sundays in silence. As strange as it sounds, the silence proved fruitful. If you ever feel like circumstances conspire against the very thing you need to do, hang in there. The crazy urge (to write, create, paint) will usually come back, and eventually you’re creating again. But if not, and you seem stuck, here’s something I’m learning:
Writing is an aggressive act.
This thought haunted me all month. To move out of passivity, I finally had to roll up my sleeves and duke it out with the keyboard. No matter how I felt, go ahead, tap, tap, tap. Put one word in front of the other, I told myself. So here I sit, tap, tap, tap. Okay, so today’s been much more pause than tap, but a short blog post is better than none.
I struggle just like you. Together we can build momentum, one word at a time. As Goldberg’s quote suggests, I’ve let the obstacles of fear and self-judgment keep me in pause mode. More about that later. Help me come out of pause mode. Tell me:
How do you move out of passivity?
Having had writing issues since the beginning of the year, I finally went out and bought a fancy schmancy “journal” of sorts. I was only going to use it to write in after my morning devotionals but in order to move “out of my passivity” I now take it with me EVERYWHERE!!! (Except I forgot to throw it in the backpack as we headed to Disney this past weekend). Now I put EVERYTHING in there…to do lists/things I observe that may lead to great writing prompts/ANYTHING that catches my fancy at the moment…even at the red light on my way to teach!!! It’s working in that it is pushing the random thoughts inside my head out onto paper and I know those will eventually form into cohesive works…but until then….random thoughts in my go everywhere journal is for me!!!
Danielle, that’s a wonderfully helpful idea! A journal can be our catch-all, because I sure need to do some catching:-) Love how your journaling evolved with time/need. Excellent!!
Love your post…yay! You pushed through…one step at a time. I don’t have any advise…I’m still “caught”, but itching to come out. I love Danielle’s idea – I find myself “writing in my head” everywhere I go. Or I’ll get this amazing thoughts, but they just fall by the wayside cause by the time I get home or where I can write, my brain is blank…Thank you Vicki and Danielle for the encouragement.
Leti, still pushing, too:-) I love your amazing thoughts so please see if you can catch ‘em and jot ‘em down. Love to see your comments here. THanks so very much.
So inspired by your experience. Good for you! Writing in my journal, even if only to bemoan my “stuckness” helps me ease out of it and do the writing I want/need to do.
Cheryl, thank you for that. The journal is a good place to begin and ease out of stuckness – I like it!
This is the word that came to mind for me:
in·er·tia
[in-ur-shuh, ih-nur-] Show IPA
noun
1.
inertness, especially with regard to effort, motion, action, and the like; inactivity; sluggishness.
Whether I want to write, sew, or craft I find I have to almost schedule it like an appointment and keep it, doing something, anything, without being critical or judgmental of my output and practice just relishing the idea of moving from inertia to action. I have to piddle through old journaling and ideas and make myself commit to one thing to start putting physical energy into and moving it from my mind to my hands.
Easier said than done most days, but so rewarding. Something beats nothing any day!
Glad you are tapping it out, friend! Glad you kept an appointment to encourage yourself.
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Hugs, Tina
Hey Tina, that’s funny – inertia is the word that keeps rolling around in my head:-) You’re smart to schedule creativity! Doing something is ALWAYS better than doing nothing. I like it! (and thanks for the prayers). xo
Just reading writing blogs sometimes helps me “restart my engine,” so to speak. Love the journal idea–except I’m always misplacing whatever I’m using as a journal! (Example: trying to keep up with the 1,000 gifts dare @ Ann Voskamp’s blog–but I guess it’ the thought that counts!)
I just keep jotting down ideas, because that still small voice keeps whispering, “When are you going to WRITE?”
Shauna, reading blogs is a great start to get those thoughts whirling. Funny, but I misplace my journals too unless I stick one in my purse (my purse is huge). Yes, yes – keep jotting down ideas! Thanks for your input. We all gain from each other.
Look around, see the beauty, listen, feel the pain, experience the joy…I do bring a journal to write down a song idea or recycling craft idea that teaches or something with a healthy tip twist and I usually always have my camera and cell phone so you can always record a quick idea…small and always close by, you can also email it to yourself…Happy Unstuckness! Appreciate you Victoria
Dawn
PS My challenge is to complete the project.
Dawn, my Singing Nurse friend – hello. Smart of you to include a camera (jotting that down for future reference). I sometimes whip out my cell to use its camera. Good ideas here. Thank you for adding to the conversation. Yep, completing a project is a challenge for me, too, sometimes – we’ll talk about that more