Of Writer’s Block and Regrouping

I cannot count the many times I have opened a blank page and closed it hours later with nothing written on it. The annoyance of having a white screen staring back at you, almost as if mocking you for having just as blank of a mind. As a blogger, this is a never-ending cycle.

One time, you have all the ideas in the world, the next moment, your mind is filled with cobwebs with nothing at all to write. If you are a writer, then you have probably gone through the pain of having writer’s block. As we conclude Creative’s Week in the ongoing Afrobloggers #WinterABC Challenge, I thought of sharing about this evil we all go through from time to time.

Over the past few days, I have read many bloggers also share their own experiences with writer’s block. And I felt like I belonged. Having people share their own troubles with the demon I can’t seem to tame, made me realize that we are all fighting the same battles. However, through all this, one blogger I truly related to is Tee Madzika. Not only is he my Zimbabwean husband, but we seem to both have been going through it during the same time period.

In one of his posts titled Chronicles of the Cycle of Blank Pages, he said

Depression feeds into my ever lessening sense of worth, which breaks apart my will to live and I feel smaller and smaller with every passing moment I don’t put any thoughts onto paper. Yet this is the conundrum, I’m depressed because I can’t create and I can’t create because I’m depressed.

Words that described my struggles with writer’s block over the past few months. I shared honestly my issues with writer’s block and my depression, but such words have never been more truthful. But such is life, where you depend on a craft to release the pressures in your brain, but fail to fully express yourself because of the same pressures.

Many people have shared their ways of dealing with writer’s block. Some write dysfunctional statements, bundling them together until some sense finally flows into them. Some choose to play music and get their inspiration from there. So many tricks that the internet offers to help tame the demon. However, it is hard enough to go through writer’s block when you are a perfectionist.

You cannot, for the life of Jesus, write dysfunctional sentences because that awakens another demon. However, something that could help is a change of environment. Finding a place that feels and looks new, with hidden gems that can tickle your mind as inspiration.

Even then, chances are high that you will not write. Then frustration comes to bite your behind, allow yourself to feel the anger. Then find new ways of finding inspiration. I did just that, I was angry at myself for not being able to put one word on a blank page. But the thought of the writing challenge gave me a newfound inspiration to try it out. And it is not easy, having to push me every day to share my thoughts. But it is working.

I have not fully regrouped from the writer’s block I had. I have accepted that also accepted that I might not be able to produce 22 works at the end of the challenge. But I am glad that I am trying, And if you are a blogger currently going through writer’s block but still pushing yourself because of the writing challenge, then tap yourself at the back for your persistence.

We will slowly regroup, but for now, let us keep trying.

Enjoying my content, you can support by