Writer’s block? Pshaw!

When a writer runs dry, it is most times referred to as his/her ‘block’. Poppycock! Let’s call it a ‘stall’ instead. A block is something that must be hammered at as in your head against a stone wall. Seldom productive.

There are two kinds of stalls: one that occurs in the midst of a work and one that precludes starting at all.

First, let me say that I have no patience with those who say they can’t think of anything to write about. What nonsense! We are awash in things to write about. Engage your imagination, for God’s sake. Take a trip, even a small one. Sit in a mall and make up stories about the people who shamble through. Read something. Play ‘what if’ with your own life history. Go to Wikipedia and read up on some person, event, era in which you may have a scintilla of interest. If something doesn’t pop up within, say, twenty minutes, you must consider erasing the title ‘writer’ from your business card.

Re ‘stalling’ while in flight: If you are flying and your plane stalls, it means there is insufficient air passing over the wings to provide lift. How to resolve that? Dive and pour on the coal. How do you dive when you’re in midair with a story? You write something else. You depart from your story line and write the ending or introduce an outrageous scenario that you’ll probably dump later. You write some friends. You take a walk and enjoy exercising your eyeballs on distant objects. You take the afternoon off. What you don’t do is sit there like a ninny and stare at the screen.