A Writer's Blockade?

Now this is something different…

I was looking at the comments and notifications on my work yesterday, in the middle of house-hunting and preparing lessons (two apartments visited; three online classes taught). There were the usual praises and critiques – fewer of the latter than before – and I was curious about how people were interpreting the last piece I wrote on the fortieth anniversary of a film about paranormal hunters (you know the one). I really did not expect the message I received over a haiku that I wrote in order to get myself back to work:

“How do you handle writer’s block? Can you write an article about it for me?”

That message came from Murali, a newer writer to Vocal, and I realized that I had been commissioned to do a particular job (no pay offered; will negotiate later):

And I am very curious about writer’s block (and that should be writers’ block, I believe – mentioned this in notes to that haiku). There are two sides to the story and I think both are valid:

1. It does not exist; it is just a state of mind.
2. It does exist and it really, really hurts.

I was looking around online for inspiration for this piece, besides Murali’s request, and found that there is the Stephen King argument (one YouTube video is entitled, “How has Stephen King managed to be so popular for so long?”). It sounds like a critique that maybe the most famous scribbler out of Maine may be doing too much work. But I don’t think so. King is a writer I have admired for far too long, not just for the matter on the page, but for how he gets that matter on the page (set routine every day with the cup of tea, early morning rise, and six clean pages a day). But let’s be honest: we cannot all be Stephen King. We cannot force ourselves to be so productive no matter what else happens to be on our schedule.

And what is the other extreme?

Fran Lebovitz!

I took part of the title of this piece from one of the many entertaining quotes she has become famous for:

“I don’t have writer’s block. I have writer’s blockade.”

This feels right. A blockade implies an army waiting to spring to action if anyone tries to cross a border. It can also mean something created and visible, often by the very person who does not think it will keep them in; it is supposed to keep other things out.

And she has every right to her line. Her last book was published…in 1994! That is thirty years filled in with appearances online, in a biography by Martin Scorsese, television and Internet interviews, and her unstoppable wit:

“Not writing is probably the most exhausting profession I’ve ever encountered.”

True.

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So, no advice on how to get over it; just examples of what writers face every single day… And please notice that I am talking about two living writers, no tweedy or dusty example from your local library. You are probably familiar with all of those names, even if you are not aware of the travails they faced. Gustave Flaubert had a very difficult time completing his work, and was not rewarded for his efforts; E. M. Forster wrote “A Passage to India”, “A Room with a View”, some other short pieces…and then waited several decades before his next work was published…posthumously; and Elizabeth Smart is only well known for her Grand Central Station book (not the kidnapping victim, folks).

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Is this a cop out? Someone did ask me what I do to handle writer’s block, and here I am writing about two extremes and mentioning the problems of other writers and the written page. My feeling seems to be that there is no solution to writer’s block, and we all have to find our own way through it. What advice I could give may only work for me. I have just been given an idea for another article and completed it when my mind is on so many other things. I have another set of apartments to look at later in the week, a few more classes to teach, and more cleaning up and deciding on what to keep and throw out to do. But here I am, at a café during a heat wave, listening to an interview as I tap away here…

Murali, I thank you and I apologize for not giving you more. All I want to say is that you are not alone. When you are honest with yourself, you will find your own reasons to write…or to not write. What is it that you want to say? What is it that you want to give to the world?

Now, you must excuse me. I have another chapter of a mostly unread novel to finish, more reading to do, and a little less worrying to enjoy.

Good luck!

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Thank you for reading!

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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