Ever find yourself talking to yourself, either out loud or in your mind? Many of us do it for any number of reasons. Practicing a speech, preparing a to-do list, etc. It's a pretty normal thing. But what might not seem so normal is talking to ourselves with a specific focus in mind, like, say, addressing something like our writer's block.
Talk about a common phenomenon; writer's block affects us all, and we all have different ways to address it. Sometimes those ways work repeatedly. Other times we have to find new ways. One new way I just discovered recently was talking to my writer's block as if it were someone I would want to get to know, and asking it questions like, "why are you here? what are you trying to tell me? what do you need?"
I didn't really get any solid answers, not right away. But then I started writing [without caring about my handwriting] a list called "Writer's Judgements" and all these worries, fears, and judgmental voices suddenly started spewing forth. It was freeing and admittedly strange, like when I'd suddenly have this thought in my head that was in the second person narrative and I couldn't be sure exactly who was responsible for putting it there. It was also crazy to see it wasn't just my writing that was affected but other aspects of my creativity like my singing and dancing.
Anyhow, because I'm all about transparency for the sake of helping others, below is a [typed] copy of my own practice just to see how it worked out for me. Maybe you'll relate to some of these, and undoubtedly have your own to add. (Note that I had to cross out names before I posted this for privacy purposes as I totally called out people and groups responsible for some of the most hurtful, unhelpful, destructive, negative comments I've ever endured.)
No comments:
Post a Comment