ABANDONMENT: Writer's Block?

The phrase that pops into every artist’s head when they can not/do not work is “writer’s block,” even for those whose art is not writing.

Apparently the problem is endemic.

So am I suffering from writer’s block? I wouldn’t have thought so; I associate the term with fiction writing, the world-creation problems of novels and short stories. Indeed, most articles on the problem assume you’re stuck in the middle of your fantasy trilogy and don’t know what to do next.

And as far as I can tell, none of the excellent Jeff Goins’ explanations obtain to my current work either. I’m not afraid of working on Lichtenbergianism for Kids; I just don’t want to.

And while none of Goins’ helpful hints to overcome writer’s block would work for me, his discussion of Anne Lamott’s alternate view seems pertinent: there is a difference between being resistant to work and being empty.

I’ve talked about this before, although I can’t find any blog posts about it. (Maybe I just wrote about it in a letter…) For me, this feeling of emptiness often comes before some major event — think “trip to Italy” or “Alchemy burn” — that is of such weight that it become a temporal black hole. That is, it sucks up all my energy and attention and will and focus, to the point that I have no energy or attention or will or focus to work.

And so, having crossed the event horizon for Italy and being spit out the other side, I found myself immediately crossing the event horizon for Alchemy: get the placement map finalized/published; create the build weekend maps; start pulling together all the supplies for build weekend; start pulling together all the camping stuff; coordinate my camp mates’ arrival times, meals, etc.

No, I don’t want to write Lichtenbergianism for Kids: all my energy and attention and will and focus is being pulled rather forcefully into the next black hole — where I hope to regain a little fullness.

full disclosure: I wrote this blog post last week and scheduled it to be posted today, since I can’t be sure that I will have the energy or attention or will or focus to do that today… or Wednesday… or Friday.