A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry about academic writing and the first point I made was ?Just Write.? I?m here today to expand on that a bit. This post will probably not help all forms of writer?s block, but I do know that this will help me, so perhaps it might help you also. There is a classic drawing/art book entitled Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, which I am still reading (and I am in the midst of a long break from it, mind you). The basic idea from what I can tell is that you draw what is actually there, not what you think is there. Perhaps you need to re-read that sentence. You want to draw actuality, not what you perceive to be actual.
[As a side note, there is a writing book that looks the same and is from the same publisher entitled Writing the Natural Way by Gabriele Rico and was my first creative writing text. It is quite helpful and may even contain a similar idea, but I am not drawing on it here.]
Anyway, what I am proposing is to ?Write what is there, not what you think is there.? This is the equivalent of saying ?just write,? but hopefully with a bit more narrative to conceptually understand what that means. I think that as writers we often want to write something that will be beautiful right out of the gate ? accepted by critics and fans alike. I believe this can happen, and does, but it?s something we shouldn?t worry about. What I?m getting at is that when we try to write something that is perfect we end up creating something that isn?t real. We end up stilted because we are constrained by what we think a piece should look like through the eyes of others. When we do this, we tear the heart right out of the piece. When we ?write what is there? we speak from the heart and the full body of our emotion is poured into the text.
Now, does that mean we don?t need to revise, edit, and continually change the wording? No, but it gives us a starting point that is real and full of life. This is not an excuse for bad writing habits, but it is an opportunity to be freed from expectations and to write what is real, personal, relational, and raw. If you don?t like what you see, you can always make sure it never sees the light of day, but if you do like it, chances are someone else might also. If you are a good writer, that will come through in the piece. If you are a bad writer, that will probably come through also, but that?s another issue. At least the piece will be the one you want to write and not the one that you think someone else wants you to write. Chances are you probably don?t know what they want anyway.
The writer?s greatest tool is to speak from their heart, whether that be in experience or imagination. So don?t use the words you think should be there, use the words that should be there ? the ones from you. This may not get you over every form of writer?s block, but it may get you over the expectations you think are there.
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