Been thinking about the whole writer’s block thing, and in my definition at least, being busy or avoiding writing is not the same as being blocked. To me, blocked is sitting down to write and not being able to come up with the words. No words. Not even Ann Lamott shitty first drafts. Nada.
That’s how I define writer’s block. And it’s never happened to me.
Now, avoiding writing, being too busy to write, feeling tapped out energy-wise, all of these I continue to deal with on an almost daily basis. There’s a big part of me that wants the busy summer to be over, for the slower fall and winter to arrive, so that my writing schedule can get back to its former state of uninterruptedness.
On the other hand, I don’t want to wish away these summer days full of flea markets and gardening and renovating my house and playing in the sunshine. As usual, I’m trying to find a balance. And for three days in a row I’ve worked on the WIP every morning, even if only, like yesterday, for a short while to scratch out the beats of a new scene.
I’m still reading Judith Orloff’s Positive Energy, in fact just got to the chapter on creativity. Have only read the first two pages! Here’s what she has to say about creative energy so far:
“Creativity is the mother of all energies….”
According to Orloff, tapping into creative energy involves “…opening to the blended intuitive rhythm of imagination, heart, and intellect.” She believes that “…creativity and intuition act as sister energies that stoke one another. Both operate primarily though flow, getting out of your own way to allow a brilliance the intellect alone can’t conjure.”
When I read that I realized that although I may not be writing every day this summer, I am using my creative energy every day. In my gardens, in my house, while cooking, while dreaming about how I want to take apart the rooms of my house and put them back together again.
So it’s all good and because there are only so many hours in a day, I get carried away from writing more often than I, in my heart of hearts, really want to. Revising a novel is not half so much fun as shopping for new sofas. It’s not as instantly transforming as putting a new coat of bright color on a wall. It’s not quite as interesting as spending the morning at the flea market and ending the hunt with margaritas, talking about men with your best friend.
So I’ve got to make that conscious effort to put my WIP first every day, or at least as many days as I possibly can.