There are times when the words simply aren’t there.
In composing an email, in creating a blog post, sometimes you strike the middle of a sentence, and feel that you know what comes next, what you want the language to mean, but the one word that works won’t come. Think about it. Move on and come back to it. And still the one that wins won’t surface.
It is a form of Writers’ Block. I’d like to think that everyone who puts pen to page and fingers to keys experiences it, and the more one writes, the more opportunities they have to bump up against this phenomenon.
Conceptually, writers’ block is referenced in black tones accented with antipathy: I know the word goshdarnit! Just why won’t it speak to me?
But I have to wonder if writers’ block is a truly evil thing. I can’t find the word. I know what I want to say. But it won’t come out. Could it be—in some cases but certainly not all—that you didn’t actually know what you wanted to say? Could it be that the brain is saying, Nope, you haven’t thought it out far enough. The word you can’t find, that one simply won’t cut it. Drop this thought, smack the Backspace, and find another thread. The one you were playing with won't go anywhere.
Perhaps the brain, at that moment appropriately linked with the heart, knew where the train was going and that it wasn’t your intended destination.
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3 comments:
Words are like wild horses, and just as difficult to catch.
I say turn on the tunes. Find a song that makes you feel what you want to say. If that doesn't help, you're prolly burnt out on the whole Christmas mayhem.
I can't tell you how much this speaks to me. I should actually rename my blog and title it "writersblock.blogspot.com". I can never write what I wanted to say.
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