Have you ever experienced 'Writer's Block', where you cannot seem to put pen to paper because of lack of ideas and / or creativity? If so, what do you do to overcome it?
I had recent experience with this around Mother's day. I gave a talk about my wife, my mom, etc. When I got done with my initial writing, I realized that I had maybe 2-3 minutes worth, rather than the 10 minutes I needed. So, I returned to lds.org, and a few other sites to look up some talks given relative to mine for ideas, but I just couldn't put it together on to paper. What happened for me is a co-worker of mine basically had to say 1 or 2 things, and I was off. I couldn't stop writing. Eventually I had to trim my paper down, to stay within the time limit. For me, all it took was a few inspired words from a friend and the flood gates were opened. There is no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father had it planned for me to get the words I needed from my friend. On top of everything else, this was the first talk I had ever given at church, so there were added stresses there as well . My mother came to hear me talk (she is not LDS) and she cried, my wife and everyone else said that it was by far the best talk they had heard in a long time. The talk went so well, that now I have been asked to talk at Stake Conference next week.
Now the process starts all over
When you have a writer's block, you write something about your writer's block.
That's what I did for a poem once. I needed to get a poem into a portfolio I was handing up to get into this writing seminar. I didn't know what to write. Hence, I sat down, wrote about my writer's block, and handed it up. The reviews I got from some of my friends was that it was ingenious.
But most of the time, if I can't think of anything to write, I won't. If it's for an essay or something like that, I refer to my crapping skills, because they never fail me. For some reason, we always get high marks when we don't seem to try. Strange.
Not necessarily, though. I mean, yes, I have suffered from writers block, but it was more of a severe lack of will or want to write rather than a lack of inspiration. After all, you can write about anything. You can write about writers bock, even. And xue's poem was actually rather nice. Personally, when I encounter writers block and I know that I have to write, I simply throw out words, any words, and then try to write about them, a method that usually helps.
I am a writer who doesn't believe in writer's block. Not to say that I haven't had it, mind you. But I don't believe in being stopped by it. "Writer's block" means an unwillingness to write. Not an actual inability to write. You can always write, just like you can always procrastinate. Personally, I procrastinate far more often and much better than I write. If you think you have nothing to say, it's because you're not saying anything. Sit down. Get your computer. Or your pen and paper. And get started. On something. ANYTHING.
J