Every week, I challenge myself to a Monday Dare. Click on the link to see the complete list of Monday Dares or learn more about its origin.
This week: Overcome writer’s block
Every Monday morning, I sit down to write a Monday Dare around 7:20 a.m. and grant myself permission to step away only when my bladder threatens to explode or I feel faint from hunger. I guess that was a tad dramatic. But, my computer claims it is now 4:53 p.m., which means I’ve been sitting here for eight hours. Well, except for the brief fifteen-minute break I took to rummage through Cal’s jacket pockets. Sometimes, she has half-eaten candy and other fine snack treats hidden away.
Also, I did step away to pick Cal up from school, but that was only because I sent her an email in the early afternoon asking if she would mind walking the ten miles home from school, and she didn’t respond. I took that as a “no.” Silence speaks volumes, don’t you think? Not that I need to defend myself, but I just want to add here that most of those ten miles are DOWNhill.
I was planning to write about being a better mother, but after reading the last two paragraphs, perhaps you’ll understand why I decided against it. I mean, yes, it’s clear I’m going to need to make that a Monday Dare at some point, but this writer’s block is really starting to make me lose touch with reality, so I’m going to have to put this whole “parenting thing” on the back burner for now. She’s only in eighth grade. I still have almost five years before she leaves this house. Please don’t rush me.
I’ve had the great fortune of meeting writers who can churn out shitloads and shitloads of words. I don’t dare aspire to be one of Those People. If I really apply myself, I can also write shitloads and shitloads of words. The only problem is that they wouldn’t really be in any coherent order and a lot of them would be misspelled. Some of them might not be English words. Or real words.
The truth really starts to pour out when your forearms start to lose sensation because you don’t have enough muscle control to practice proper typing posture. How the fuck am I supposed to keep my wrists raised while tapping away at the keys with a light stroke PLUS maintain an open elbow position to promote circulation? Do I look like an athlete?
My feelings of inadequacy and fear of being the creator of tremendous shit keep me from writing more. At their worst, these fears keep me from writing at all. I just need to remind myself, “Be brave, be brave, be brave.” If that doesn’t work, “Stop crying like a little bitch” may do the trick.
Harv just said that I overcame writer’s block by writing about writer’s block. I don’t even understand what I just wrote. That is some Inception shit right there.
How do you face the fears which prevent you from doing the things you love?
Does writer’s block ever get you? How do you move past it?
P.S. NEW TWITTER HANDLE: @ElizabethJLiu (All the good thug names were taken.)
No more @NoShoppingLiz. That bitch was such a troublemaker.
P.S. A BIG shout-out to the GRIP of amazing women I met over the weekend at Bloggy Boot Camp Las Vegas. Thank you for not booing during my speech.Y’all were lovely and kind and funny and sharp and smart….all the things I hope to be one day when I grow up. Let’s stay connected on the Flourish in Progress Facebook page.
image via kjohansen’s flickr
