Forcing Writer's Block

An old joke that used to make the rounds intimated that one airline company's motto was "Force to Fit". I'm not sure if it referred to airplane parts or passengers. And once I worked at a newspaper with the informal saying, "All the news that fits, we print", a takeoff on the NY Times' subhead, "All the new that's fit to print".

Writers worry a lot about fittings, too: whether this article will be a good fit with a particular magazine, if this move will fit into a career, how to fit writing into a busy schedule. The last one is a common problem both new and established writers face. And when they force the fit and finally sit, the writing sometimes won't come. Trying to force the creative impulse is similar to blocking it. Sounds counter intuitive, doesn't it, but read on.

We speak of creativity and words as "flowing", and when we're caught up in the creative moments, we're "in the flow". We experience writing as an outpouring, almost impulsive, even compulsive for some. The secret, if there is one, is to allow it to happen. Give your creative self permission to play with words. Don't dam them up and then try to channel the stream into a flume, regulating the natural tendency for the writing to occur spontaneously. If you take this approach, when you're "ready" to write, you may find the sluice gates rusted tight.

Trying to channel your writing into specific time blocks (I will write on my lunch hour every day!) can build a block against writing. Commanding your muse, so to speak, is a futile waste of energy. It can leave you with negative feelings--about yourself and your abilities, beginning a downward spiral to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let your writing out whenever it wants to come, even if you have to snatch a few minutes during a meeting to scribble in a notepad. Don't make your life schizophrenic, trying to keep your "writer self" separate. It is part of a whole person.

I'm not warning all writers of this possibility. Of course those with jobs in journalism must produce on command and during certain hours, but that is not the creative kind of writing that comes from inside the writer. And not every creative will suffer from forced labors of love, so overflowing are their fountains.