31 Letters – Letter #19

ON:  Writer’s Block: Fear

I am over half way through my letter writing process and somewhere along the way I developed a case of writer’s block.  This feeling is not unfamiliar to me.  Just before letter number one I felt the same way.  I’ve heard many writers talk about the various symptoms.  In a nutshell, fear is what holds most writers back from completing a piece of work.  Fear that no one will want to read their work.  Fear that none of what they write will make sense. 

I think that for me it was a case of fear and a bit of distraction.  Any time there are external forces preventing you from being creative or completing a project those forces are called distractions.  We talked about them at some point or another on my blog; however, I am not sure if we discussed pushing passed them.

Webster’s dictionary defines distractions as: 

1         The act of distracting or the state of being distracted; especially: mental confusion.

2         Something that distracts; especially : amusement <a harmless distraction>

Because I don’t like describing a word with a word I dug a little deeper to find the medical definition of distraction.

1         Diversion of the attention

2         Mental derangement

3         Excessive separation (as from improper traction) of fracture fragments

Whatever the definition one thing I know is this… once you’re distracted or off course of your assignment it can be difficult to find your way back.

What helps me is to actually write through writer’s block. Sometimes everything that I write doesn't make sense or it seems that I’m rambling, but what do you know… I’m writing again.

Thanks for being patient with me as I find my way back to the pen and paper.  

Stay tuned for #20.