Here is an unedited post, written in September 2022. In order to smash the writers’ block, offset resistance, and reclaim ownership of the creative process, I redefine the writing process with a new affirmation for creatives during a chat with Alessandra White (@AlessandraWhite) on Twitter Spaces.
Creative Block, Writers’ Block, Whatever You Call It, there’s a chance that you’ve experienced this at some point, if you’re a fellow writer, poet or creative (all terms I still struggle with, although I’ve been writing outside of education for 18 years, doing poetry for 12 years, and been creative since forever….). There is a sense that these barricades are heightened by social media and the Internet in general, in part because one tends to present only their best self in these spaces, and not the blood, sweat and tears, or the iceberg below the water’s surface. So, we have become conditioned to believe this is the reality, when in actuality, we see “Photoshopped Personalities”.
It’s common on social media to learn that someone wrote thousands of words in one day, and it’s often presented as just that, which is hella strange to me… because a lot of those words can be scrapped, rewritten, or put aside for a different use entirely. To remove that context is to erase very real pain, and how much of ourselves we give to our creative work. It makes the writing process seem unnecessarily competitive, and it’s wholly dishonest because in the writing community, we have short stories, childrens’ stories, memoirs and diaries, various forms of poetry, comic strips and visual novels, as well as the more “conventional” fact and fiction writers. In many of those forms, it isn’t so typical to write many thousands of words a day, and agonising over words or phrases is natural.
But even in the rare instances that we see the other side, it, too, is often photoshopped, in that the pain is lionised. It means you’re seen to be “working hard”. “Keep calm and carry on writing” (Another meme that needs to fuck the fuck off). Or my favourite one, telling people to “stop tweeting” or “get off social media” because “we all have the same 24 hours, so, you can do it, too” and “any time not spent writing is time wasted or a distraction”. All of this while trying to be serious, and using a #WritingCommunity hashtag, or one of its spin-offs… on Twitter, no less. It’s problematic as hell, and it needs to stop.
Writing isn’t a competition. If it’s believed that everybody has a story inside them, be it fiction, reporting an event, or sharing a lived and breathed experience, then it is equally true that these stories will be told when one is ready, or when the storyteller feels that it’s time for others to listen to it, and only that person can define when that moment is.
I find that, as with pretty much everything, a great deal of the attitudes towards writing and the blocks we face are incredibly ableist, and that actually isn’t a surprise, given how much both academia and society-at-large hate disabled people. Oh, and a lot of the so-called “rules” of writing and creative work were defined in an era where the writers who got published were primarily pale, male and able… This shows itself in the present day, where certain book clubs might require you to write a minimum of five-figure words each month – Let’s just ignore that throughout your school years and even in higher education, you might be given most or all of a semester to write one 3,000-word essay, or two semesters to write a dissertation of 12,000 words. While that is a lot more time than one month, I want everybody stopping by this page to know it’s alright if, when you’re writing, or in the midst of your creative work, you feel that isn’t enough. We don’t need to hold such archaic conventions dearly in the creative arena, especially ones you yourself had no say in shaping, and which serve only the interests of gatekeepers. In an ever-faster living world, they have no place.
Put another way, Bollocks to that. What is the purpose of writing, anyway? Is it to show how many words you can write, regardless of whether it makes sense or not, or is it to tell our stories in the best way we can, and take ownership of our words and the process? Even if you’re not writing as a passion, surely sincerity is imperative in building a dedicated, supportive readership? I’m not convinced this comes across in the approaches mentioned above.
Since the end of 2015, I have been speaking more openly about being dyspraxic. There is no “extra time”, and outside of education, it can mean trying to hit word targets, going to bed at Wild O’Clock, carrying exhaustion from day to day, struggling to put pen to paper, let alone articulate my thoughts, and feeling upset because being creative, although a lot of work, becomes something starved of its passion. Something I don’t want to do sometimes. Ultimately, these are more sticks to beat myself up with, and the act of worrying over such restrictions can become a Writers’ Block in itself – Now, that isn’t to be conflated with a prompt challenge, where one “gamifies” the creative process, where it’s understood that the imperfect is natural, celebrated, and there are no “winners or losers”. In this vacuum, it’s possible for beauty to be borne out of constraints. It’s taken a great deal of unlearning to get to a point where I can give my better and best self to my creative endeavours. In order to offset resistance to, and smash these barriers, I believe a reassessment is in order…. We need to rethink writing and creative work. We need to redesign processes so they can be inclusive, relevant to the 21stC and the challenges an ever faster-living world presents. We needn’t get dizzy with the world’s every turn, nor find ourselves suffocating under pressure.
I present to you a new affirmation for fellow writers, poets and creatives. It won’t get thousands of retweets, faves or shares on social media, but I hope that, when you consider it, and catch that lost breath, it will enable greater possibilities. So, here it is…
Reading is writing. Resting is writing. Research is writing, as are self-care and recuperation. You don’t need to hit a certain number of words each day, or put a pen to paper to say “I’m writing”, and the moments in between are a part of the process.
Let the above marinate for a while, and please remember it the next time you have a spell where you felt you weren’t as productive or creative. If you made it to this point, Thank You ever so much for visiting my blog page, and for reading this post. Special mention to Alessandra White for allowing me to share this on her Creative Work Hour Twitter Spaces, I appreciate it lots.
x x x x x x x x Love J
