Well, I was just reading another writer's blog - not that I can officially call myself a writer, since I've never published any work - and I realised something. Throughout the writing of this blog, I have been making the pre-assumption that writing is not as connected to a writer as dancing is, to a dancer.
It may seem obvious, but there are subtle stereotypes that imprint on a person's mind (perhaps mine, perhaps a million others in the human population) as an individual of society. One of them may be that writing for a writer is: a job. To some - lawyers who write appeals, suits, whatever (I watch Suits on Netflix and I'm still stiff with the semantic field of law!) - writing is a job. What the majority of them, potentially, love most is serving those in need, inside the courtroom. But with writers, we know that writing in a blog, newspaper, novel and so on isn't going to provide us with lots of money. Only novel-writers have high future, financial prospects. No one pays to read your blog. The cost of a newspaper is very little - it's not going to boost your bank balance much.
But we do it anyway.
In the past, during the times I've experienced Writer's Block, I have tried to explore art or music. But I always return to writing. The pen starts singing to me when I settle in front of the piano. The paper is so fresh and white - I mean, how can I resist? Sometimes it is merely the feel of the blank page, being filled up with your thoughts, an outlet for your imagination. Even during the writing of my novel, I questioned myself: if I'm so susceptible to Writer's Block, why am I even so passionate about finishing this novel?
After giving it some thought, I realised that Writer's Block is perfectly natural. Just like periods of dark depression are, and panic attacks. It's like acid reflux. Everyone experiences it at one point in their life. Stress, anxiety, anger: these feelings and emotions can all distract you from your writing. And why would you want to write anything - with hopes of publishing it - if your heart and mind wasn't truly set on it?
Writing is an art. The metaphors, similes, rhyme, semantic fields, oxymorons... They are all different coloured paints, different hues of green, brown, blue, red. You can paint a wonderful picture in somebody's mind with just words, strung together with skill, yes, experience, yes, but also...passion. Passion for inspiring truth and feeling in the reader. Excluding those who write for money, why else do we write? I, myself, write to reveal truths that I have realised as an individual during my experience of life, so that others can realise them, too. To create change - a ripple in the waters of humanity.
I have a great admiration for many species of animal - tiger, lion, cat, dog, rat, hawk, eagle. Even guinea pigs! You are probably wondering what the last two sentences have to do with this post. What I'm trying to say is this. I cannot connect with animals through my writing, although I would like to. I cannot affect worldly forces; only the thoughts and actions of humankind. I may not even be able to do that. Writing is a human activity. We are held together by it, just as we are held - connected - to one another by our ability to speak.
It is special, and I apologise if I have ever implied that it is merely an occupation. Something to 'get done and over with.'
I suppose I have not been posting for a long while, as well as inconsistently, because of my recent Writer's Block. I am writing a scene, at the moment, about one of the dragons flying. It's the first time the main character has ever gotten to fly this dragon. I struggled for about an hour, trying to establish that connection with my writing, but it was all stilted. I couldn't feel that true connection with what I was writing, and I realised that it was because I had never experienced riding on a - flying - dragon's back. I can imagine what it would be like, but I cannot write the scene with confidence as I've written the rest of the book. How can anyone experience riding a dragon? It's impossible.
I know I'm sounding very hopeless, but this Writer's Block is probably caused by the stress that I'm starting university at the end of the month. As I stated before, stress can inhibit creativity, because your focus is lost. If I had the money and resources, I would overcome this hurdle with replacing my lack of experience - with dragon-riding - with another, similar one. Perhaps riding horses, camels, maybe even sit on a crocodile! I'm sure you can pay to do that.
Well, that's something to add to the goals: ride a crocodile's coarse back. Can't wait to tick that one off (!) See ya!
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