How can we break it down?

by Tyreck Abrahams

As writers I think most of us could agree that one of the most daunting part of writing is… not writing. The moment when your pen begins to feel like a weight that forces your hand to submission. When your keys feel cold and stiff like the joints in your fingers that have become paralysed by the fear of perfectionism. The thing is, this ‘block’ isn’t necessarily a restriction, the fact your mind can ‘notice’ this ‘block’ is testament to your creative mind itself – we can imagine this nothingness, this unknown that restricts us. For instance; nothing is called nothing, a void is a void, a black hole is a black hole. So, as long as we keep on creating words, then we are writing,  and within writing we can create our own images and emotions. I particularly stumble upon this ‘block’, and even now I am typing this out with hammer heads on my fingertips, subconsciously conscious with every word that I type. Yet at the same time, with every word that I type, I am gradually chipping away at the block in front of me. So remember, IMAGINING is a tool you are already subconsciously using. It is the first tool you use when you begin to write, so you should trust the vision that you can’t see and describe the blindness.

 There are also different approaches to getting past writers ‘block’, and one that I particularly enjoy is going on random word generator and creating poetry/short stories from completely random words. This forces you to be creative as your brain is already thinking on how to conjoin unrelated words and make them harmonious, thus exercising your innovative brain. You would be surprised from the creativity that derives from this exercise. It draws out the unfiltered you; you have the chance to dress these words into your favourite clothes and let them express themselves. And even if you didn’t like what you wore, you can look back on it and think, what would I change? Because I know as kids, we all looked back at a certain point in our life and thought, why the f*ck was I wearing that? Or when you finally had that freedom of choosing your own clothes, instead of wearing a suit and some church shoes (alright maybe, I’m getting too personal, but you get the point). Writing is expressive, and I’d like to assume that everyone has a personality (I hope so). There is always an emotion to express, even if you’re a stoic person, so to bring it back to my main point, this writers ‘block’ is just a façade, an illusion, a fear of a perfectionist. And I don’t think writers realise (me included), how damaging the ‘perfectionist’ route is, as you begin to overthink and this causes stagnation. We should be able to think freely, and even if it turns out like absolute trash, first of all – you wrote, secondly – you can always go back to it and edit, as you have already created a foundation. So, I am not saying it is easy to pump out words when your mind feels frozen, but I hope that it’ll eventually defrost before mum gets back home.