Artistry Blocks

My every instinct is to steer clear of this topic, so that I don’t lend the idea any kind of reality. But I know that is foolish, since it already has so much of a grip over anyone who has tried to create something, so let’s tackle it. We are going to get this out of the way early.

Your block is you.

Now I don’t mean that to be harsh. But, writer’s block comes from writers, painting block from painters, etc etc and on and on.

You are the reason you can’t create. It isn’t some metaphysical object that sits in your brain and shuts down all of your thoughts. It isn’t some monkey up in your Inside Out-style brain, stealing all the little orbs and throwing them away. It is you.

What do I mean by this? Let’s analyze a little bit.

Firstly, we know that the barrier to entry for most of the creative professions is incredibly high, as it is with most professions in the celebrity circles (professional sports, acting, etc.) We see our heroes creating at the highest possible level, and we demand this of ourselves. We demand the top percentile of everything we create, because otherwise why would we create at all? Might as well leave it to the professionals if all we are going to do is muck up everything.

Secondly, we know that somedays are harder than others. Not every day is going to lend itself your creative juices, and not every day is going to leave you wanting to make something special at the end of it.

Thirdly, we know our brains love to trick us. And we know that the social media craze helps our brains do this in a lot of ways.

So, what we have when we sit down to create is a variable set of circumstances before and after your creative time has begun, we have a huge wall of talent to cover before we feel we have reached the place worth creating at, and we have a brain that has been hardwired at this point to seek out dopamine in every form. So you sit down to write, and maybe you had a hard day at work. You can’t stop thinking about that one customer that rolled her eyes at you in just the right way, or that one coworker who condescended on you for the last time. Or maybe you sit down and your phone dings, reminding you that your friends are off of work now. Or perhaps you just watched an interview with your favorite author, and you just don’t feel like any of your ideas are anything like their novels, so why even bother?

Who wouldn’t force themselves to go out instead? You have made creation this horrible ugly monster that is going to kick you in the groin and spit on you when you go down to comfort the pain. You have made it impossible for your brain, your very fragile, wonderfully creative mind, to do anything other than create ways for you out of the creative process. This is where the social media and dopamine craze come into play the most.

We are now instant gratification addicts. This is true of anyone who has had to go on a social media cleanse, or deleted everything on their phone all at once, just to have every app drip back on slowly but surely. What I mean to say is, you reading this is not exempt from this section. So please stay focused.

Dopamine addiction is dangerous. If anything hard comes up, our brain instantly attempts to divert us to something fun, or exciting, or new. It’s a huge timesink, and a horrifyingly creepy one at that. I wish Stephen King had written a novel pre-smartphone era about an abusive friend that constantly gets us coming back to it, and tracks our location for no reason than to sell to us its newest pyramid-scheme.

That friend is your phone. But I digress.

Writer’s block is the by-product of the barrier to entry you have made for yourself, by not understanding what a first draft does for you. A first draft is where you write your story from start-to-finish without revision, and get the ending on the page. Then revision is where you can go back and make the whole accident of storytelling look intentional (that analogy holds a lot of weight on writing as the creative act, but it can be easily revised. Drafting for all creativity is a necessary action to take, and everyone should ideally be going through a revision process).

Writer’s block comes from pressuring yourself to create something amazing when you have had a horrible week. Go easy on yourself from time to time. There’s no pressure externally to create a Van Gogh on the first try (I’m looking at you, Gil).

Writer’s block comes from our newfound inability to sit down and do anything hard for any period of time. Our brain will make us need a nap, or decide that our heart hurts really bad and that we need to search for symptoms of heart failure, before it allows us to be bored and in monotony. Break this habit. I’m still trying. But do it. It is imperative.

Writer’s block is you convincing yourself that this thing has stopped you from being able to create that day, or from being inspired. Action comes before motivation. Just start marking up your blank canvas, and the inspiration will soon follow.

Remember to take it easy on yourself sometimes too! Days can be hard, you can miss a word count goal, you can not finish as much of that stanza as you wanted, everything will be okay. Don’t allow rest to become the standard, but allow it to be the exception to your habits.

Have a great one guys! Tell me what you feel your biggest artistry block is in yourself, and how you can go about removing it!