It’s been a season of conversations about walls for a while now, hasn’t it? Socio-political talk about our southern border with Mexico won’t end anytime soon. The metaphoric walls between parties, while there for generations, seem thicker and taller than ever. Walls, whether physical or emblematic, and definitely depending on which side of one you’re on in the situation, can offer safety (or at least the impression of it) or oppression. They can hold bad things back or keep us from good things.
Coming up against a wall in our writing can be a paralyzing crossroad. We can find ourselves overwhelmed by the block we’re experiencing. It can be a temporary, easily mended delay in the pleasure of our writing, or a deep, years-long obstacle to overcome. How we get past The Wall varies, not only between writers, but each time we re-approach one ourselves. I doubt the same strategy works every time for us all.
Coming up against a wall in our writing can be a paralyzing crossroad. We can find ourselves overwhelmed by the block we’re experiencing. It can be a temporary, easily mended delay in the pleasure of our writing, or a deep, years-long obstacle to overcome. How we get past The Wall varies, not only between writers, but each time we re-approach one ourselves. I doubt the same strategy works every time for us all.
- Remember you’re trying to get back to writing. If you’ve been there before, writing, you can get back to it again - writing. Go write.
- Writing of any kind, even your worst, is better than staring at the page. Revision can improve what needs work. Revision can’t help then empty page.
- Make a list (yes, another list [sigh]) of all your fears associated with writing. There’s something about seeing your fears on paper. Bulleted out. Numbered. It’s as if a little of the power they’ve stolen from you is given back as you name them. Try it.
- Somewhat associated with #3, deal with the fact that you’ve failed in that past, that there’s probably something you’re screwing up presently, and that the future will be full of failure. Sometimes we settle with the tradeoff that as long as we don’t do anything, that we remain safe, we don’t have to deal with screwing up or being told we’re not good enough. We paralyze ourselves.
- Oppositely, without effort you’ll never have successes and opportunities to be excellent. We learn through our mistakes as well as getting it perfect the first time (though the latter really doesn’t help us much).
- What’s on the other side of the wall? Is it frightening? Do you even want what’s there? Is that the direction you want to go? Is this the obstacle between you and what you actually need? Who built the wall? What’s it made of?
- Try this: Do a ten minute free write only about “The Wall.” See what comes of it.
- Go write.