Can you picture a cinderblock sitting between the triggers in your brain and your fingers? A large obstacle keeping you from typing or writing what you’re trying to think? That would be a horrible way to live. It would suck your thoughts from you like a vacuum. A roaring vacuum that takes away everything you are trying to accomplish.
Well, that cinderblock is writer’s block.
Writer’s block is a condition. It’s not merely procrastination. It’s not a lack of writing skills. Many people have suffered from this paralyzing mental ailment. Seventh-grade students, amateur writers, and professional authors, and many others have found themselves frustrated with the ills of writer’s block. No one is immune.
Jeff Goins, a bestselling author among other things, wrote that common reasons for procrastination include timing, fear, and perfectionism: the timing is just not right for writing; fear of failure or harsh critiques; and wanting everything to be just right before you write. And those three aspects are also clear in our everyday lives when we try to accomplish something. If it’s not the right time, or if we fear what others will think or say, or if we only do something when things are perfect, we would accomplish nothing. Timing is everything. People will always have something to say. And things will never be perfect.
So how do we accomplish our dreams? We accept who we are and where we are. We wait until that time is just right. Don’t rush it and don’t wait too long. We embrace the fear of failure. We understand that not everyone is going to like or agree with what you are doing. And we realize that nothing is perfect, while we still strive for perfection. Take the pressure off of yourself.
Once that pressure lifts, you will have the strength to remove the large cinderblock that is keeping you from your desired outcomes. That’s how writers can write and that’s how we all can move forward with accomplishing our goals.
So in this inflamed cancel culture, it’s important that we cancel those things that keep us from being our best selves. Cancel the writer’s block and the boulders standing in your way and your dreams can come true.
I should know. For six years I had trouble finishing my novel My Invisible Father, not because I had writer’s block, but because I didn’t know if it was the right time for me to write a novel, and because I had doubts if others would like my story and because of that, I wanted to write the perfect book so that everyone would not just like it but love it. But when I realized that would never happen, I could flow and write and create without worry and fear. And the final product was my very first novel of hopefully many more.
Only time will tell!
Here are some of the latest podcasts I have been on:
Own Your Now (Facebook video)