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Writer's Block or Confidence Block?

And how are we going to stop it?

By Blaine MalefattoPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Writer’s Block. If you’ve ever had to write anything from a school assignment to something more creative, you’ve probably experienced it. But does Writer’s Block exist? I know I have felt it before, but maybe it’s not that we don’t have anything to write, but we have so much to write that we don’t know how to express it all. Maybe we are just really hard on ourselves and we don’t think the ideas we have are good enough.

I remember my English and creative writing teachers throughout my life have always said if we’re experiencing Writer’s Block, just write different words over and over and something will eventually come to you, which usually worked. I feel like once you grab an idea, you can just go with it, and it could be something completely different than when you started. It’s kind of like when you’re having a conversation with someone where you start off by talking about your breakfast then end up talking about the future of technology (you know it happens).

It’s a weird concept how I can have endless ideas and plans, but I still consider myself to have Writer’s Block. It’s like a traffic jam in my head, so many ideas with places to go, but not making any momentum.

I’m a fan of making lists, particularly to-do lists. Sometimes I write something down just so I can cross it out. Listing any and all of my ideas are helpful when something inspires me to write, but not quite enough to write a story, poem, or some sort of blog post. They are also good for safekeeping and reference for possible future work.

I’ve been feeling very inspired lately and I didn’t really know what kind of project I wanted to do. I don’t really have the materials for any type of video idea I had. So I just sat down and started typing. Sure enough, my initial idea was to write about the Writer’s Block I was having, so here I am.

One website that has really been inspiring me lately is Refinery29. The material has a very “by women for women” aspect, with many categories and subcategories. There is everything from world news and politics to beauty and fashion. I love the content of the website as well as the layout.

YouTube is a platform I haven’t quite tapped into on my own yet, but I have been toying with the idea. I think if I ever do start producing content for my own YouTube channel, I am going to wait until after I graduate college. I don’t want to dive too quickly into it, I need to take my time and figure out what kind of videos to post.

Tough self-approval can lead to loss of creativity, which is something I never want to lose. I feel the only way I will be able to grow more confident in any type of my work is to just go through with what I want to put out there.

Have you noticed how I went off topic? I think I was trying to prove a point with that but it was not really planned. None of this was really planned I just knew I had things to say and I needed to type them. I could easily write this entire post and read it over ten times and not decide to submit it. That’s where I’ve proved to myself that my Writer’s Block is not so real after all. There is always something for me to write, it’s just whether or not I think it is worthy of sharing.

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About the Creator

Blaine Malefatto

College graduate with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism and minors in Broadcast Management and Journalism. Although I took the broadcast and digital media path of journalism and communications, I love to write, which is why I love Vocal.

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