Plagued By The Blank Screen

As you may have noticed, lately I have been posting late at night in an attempt to keep the daily blog streak going. This is not ideal but they are getting up and that is the real task at hand for me because the simple purpose of this blog has always been to just keep writing.

The common sense rational is that if you want to be a writer, keep writing. Sometimes you will produce something to be incredibly proud of while other times you will fall flat. No one gets it right one hundred percent of the time and I am choosing to do so publicly.

Another hazard that every writer faces at some point in time is “writer’s block”. This has been my burden as of late and has caused the delays in putting up posts at a more ideal time early in the morning. But I am determined to break through the wall and return to the level of productivity that I am more accustomed.

Many of you know that this situation is one that has many causes including illness, lack of sleep, mental preoccupation, laziness, and limited time. While any of these factors can be overcome they all cause a slowing or, sometimes, freezing of the writing process. Unfortunately, I have been juggling all of the above in my attempt to keep this blog going.

How I have been able to do this I honestly don’t have an answer that would explain it completely. All I have done is write. I keep writing and just try to form quasi lucent thoughts that hopefully at least a few people will be able to follow. I have had to make it a selfish process where I am writing to think things through for myself. This is why there may be one topic being addressed in the beginning of the post and something completely different being discussed by the end.  

Having a topic at hand is another way to combat the drudges of disassembling a creative roadblock. When I started this blog I want to take things day by day and have spontaneous posts about things that have happened, strange occurrences, random thoughts, etc. That lasted about three days before I started working on a list of ideas and events on my calendar. Having that list has given me direction on a daily basis and has saved me from starting with a completely blank screen. Sometimes all it takes is a quick idea at the top of the page to get things going. It still required a lot of work but it is definitely easier getting to point B when you know where to locate point A.

Overall, I guess it just proves that creative stubbornness can sometimes be a good thing. Taking the approach of getting your thoughts down no matter what is essential in staving off what can lead to a severing of the connection between your brain and the page. This is when writing becomes work but it is what needs to be done if you want to return to creative state that is free flowing and fun. Sometimes you have to work at something before it becomes enjoyable (again).