Blank Page Writer's Block

You've been chugging along, cranking out, well, whatever it is that you do involving words strung together, probably for profit. Maybe you've been at it for a few weeks or even quite a few years with successes spurring you on. Perhaps you've never even experienced a "temporary creativity interruption" in your life. You start a new project and POW! [comic book eruption]. Nothing happens. Usually writing happens, but this time you sit there and stare at the blank page.

Now, all the naysayers who deny Writer's Block even exists will tell you to apply seat of pants to seat of chair and write. To stop being lazy and looking for excuses. Just do it. Blah, blah, blah. It's all baaaaad advice because you have been producing, you did show up, you are perspiring (by now, it's possibly from panic.) And most of all, you have been doing it. You're obviously not lazy and you weren't looking for an excuse not to write, or you wouldn't have shown up atthe appointed time and place all ready to go AS USUAL. Your expectation was that things would go on the same as always, but this is a different experience and calls for a different tactics.

Many other advisers (myself included, at times) will suggest that you take a break, maybe visit museums, cross-pollinate with other arts, take a walk or even take a few days off from writing. These quick fixes work when the writer discovers she doesn't know enough about medieval basket weaving or he is stressed out by the new twins. IF you can analyze your state and determine no lack of knowledge or planning is holding you up and no emotional or psychological cause has plugged up your font of creativity, THEN I have a radical suggestion:

Put writing on a hiatus. Take a sabbatical. Make it a real vacation from this type of work, but don't throw it out of your life, just ease your pot of now simmering creative juice to one of the back burners. If you need immediate income, take a temporary job (at its worst, you'll be exposed to new characters, dialog and plot ideas). And that's what you can always tell busybodies who snoop into your business -- "I'm doing research for a new article/book/website."

While your mind is relatively empty, it's time to recharge the batteries of your senses. Notice the fragrances, colors, sounds, tastes and touches all around you. Focus on one sense at a time, then the zeitgeist, near and far. Be good to yourself, indulge and play, maybe even revisit childhood activities. Try something new and expand your horizons. And do it all as long as you need to. You're opening a door and who knows what will stroll in? Maybe your missing muse, or maybe a whole new life.