Don’t force it… inspiration will come. We have all been there. I have been there. The curser on the screen blinking, my eyes mesmerized by the blank white of an empty word document with the little black line blinking; reminding me that my mind is currently as blank as the blank paper with the little black blinking line. What do I write? Nothing is coming, I begin sentences again and again only to erase and start over. It is in these moments of complete emptiness that I take a step back. Writing cannot be forced. It needs to breath and live and flow from your finger tips to the keys or from pen to paper (that depends on your personal method of expression). Beating your head against a desk or table will not beat the writing out, that will only cause frustration and large amounts of pain. When I hit these writing roadblocks I take a step back, get a drink, eat a snack and write again, refreshed and open to new ideas. Once I can get my mind into the correct writing gear my mind takes off and my hand can barely keep up with my racing thoughts. I write and write and write and finally look back on what I have created, hand aching, but my mind is alive, my writing is alive.
Sometimes when my mind is going a million miles a minute, I write to slow it down. Once the thoughts are on paper they are stable and no longer running through my mind. When I have all of this raw emotion inside of me, writing it allows my mind to become free again and I feel satisfied to know that my once scattered thoughts are now solid. All of the emotion that was coursing through my body and my fingers is now written and can never be forgotten, it can never be removed. It is now out of my brain and I feel successful. It doesn’t matter that the grammar was not perfect or that if any other person were to read it, they might not understand a word. It is now alive and I can never lose it. It is real.
Don’t be afraid to let yourself show up on the paper. When the time is right, and your desire to write is greater than your desire to eat that doughnut sitting on the counter, do not be afraid. Let it all out. All your crazy, random, non-sense thoughts become a work of art. You can look back on what you have written and see you in it. Do not let what others have told you “good writing” looks like take you out of your own writing. Own your writing, be proud of your writing.
There is no better feeling than finishing a piece of writing that says everything you could not pin down in your mind. That is why I love writing.