Unleash The Writer In You: Vanquish Writer's Block
No one is exempted from Elizabeth A. Ryan's "Dudley Doolittle",
and no one could have coined a better name for every writer's
enemy - the dreaded "block".
Dudley Doolittle (hope Ms. Ryan would not mind my borrowing) is
a little devil that appears as soon as you grab a pen, or even
while you're in the middle of a major writing session. You are
so engrossed in scribbling your thoughts when suddenly you pause
to ask yourself how could you write something utterly useless
and - poof! Where have all those loud thoughts gone?
It is frustrating especially when you are cramming for a writing
project such as an essay you only have an hour to write, because
that is when Dudley likes it best.
I have imagined Dudley as a little red devil complete with a
pointed tail, two tiny horns, little fangs and that fork which
he should have left at a dinner table. He sits on your shoulder
whispering negativity to your ears to lure your focus away from
writing.
The truth is...Dudley Doolittle is that part of you that doesn't
believe in your self. It is pessimism in action. It is your
defense mechanism, meant to ward off embarrassment and
frustrations before they happen. But such mechanism could never
help you if you want to be a better writer. You would end up
being unable to put coherent sentences together to save your
life. If you dream of being a Sheldon, a Dan Brown, a J.K.
Rowling or even an Elizabeth A. Ryan, brace yourself from lots
of frustrations and embarrassments but be willing to accept them
as part of the learning process. Take it as a christening. I
know I have. And I'm not even an R.L. Stein yet. As long as you
are not breaking rules nor stepping on somebody, there is no
harm in trying.
If I have not magnified your confidence with my perk talks, here
are some things Ms. Ryan would suggest. Read on!
1. Have the courage to pick up your pen and let your heart out.
Say what you have to say. Do not mind your grammar. Forbidding
rules on grammar as well as rules on punctuation only choke you
up, preventing your creative juice to flow and narrowing your
exploration space. Write what comes to mind in fragments,
jargons, vernacular or slang, or even in your abbreviations.
There is only one rule to follow - yours!
No matter how simple or ridiculous it sounds, write it. Think
about how laughable you are later. Just get it on paper!
2. Remember: you can write. Let it be your battle cry. You are
an interesting person and you have something important to say.
My personality development teacher once said, "Don't be
inhibited by holding back." Think of your accomplishments and
recall how interested your friend was when you told her about
it. Picture someone who would just love to know about the topic
you are writing about.
3. Tune Dudley out through brainstorming. Let your thoughts do
the noise. In brainstorming, your brain gets itself into a storm
to spill ideas out onto paper. More often than not, you end up
looking at a long list.
4. Writing more than one draft clearly reminds you that no one
will ever get a glimpse of your early disasters. It's like
practicing until you've perfected it. The draft is yours to
keep, just to figure out what you can write.
5. You may pretend you are writing only for the eyes of close
friends or for your grandmother who spoils you rotten and who
will love and appreciate you, wrong grammar and all. Besides,
what are editors for?
6. Stop worrying about "not knowing what to say". Often you may
feel as though you've got "zero balance" as far as knowledge on
a certain topic is concerned. But that is the purpose of
brainstorming, my friend. Brainstorming is for you to know what
you already know about the topic and fill in the gaps later.
7. Don't be afraid to be wrong. You may be holding back
perfectly good ideas. Don't excuse yourself by saying your
cerebral bank is empty or the "info feeds" in your school days
as well as TV sessions (call it media bombardment) have been
null and void. That is pure laziness. Take the trip down the
memory lane.
8. Write as much and as often as you can. Make it a hobby. A
journal is your best shot.
9. Write what interests you.
10. An added suggestion would be...by all means, meditate! If
this doesn't help, you still have research to save the day.
More than hundreds of people could have been writers if they had
not let Dudley get the better of them, if they had not held back
perfectly good ideas for fear of being wrong.
So stop fretting. Get rid of Dudley Doolittle and pick your pen
up for battle!