Wow, it’s our final episode of this season and for the year (although we *might* be bringing you a bonus Christmas episode, if we can pull our finger out and get it done in time!). This episode is a direct follow on from last week’s episode about inspiration, because, of course, we can’t just talk about the good stuff, we have to address the bad and how we can overcome it, right? The word “block” is one of those phrases in the creative world that usually draws a raised eyebrow, a sage nod and a hmmm of understanding. Most of us have experienced it at one point or another. But it’s all about how you manage to get past it that matters! Listen in for our top tips!
Having talked about inspiration, we wanted to tackle the other side – what happens and what it feels like when there is no inspiration, or when the inspiration goes away.
What do you do when there’s no inspiration flowing and you just feel really stuck? It can dent your confidence and it can sort of expand on itself, and it’s something that most creatives, no matter what their medium, have probably experienced. It’s also shied away from as much as it’s talked about, and although (we don’t think) it’s infectious, people are understandably nervous about it.
It’s also another one where we haven’t discussed the topic fully between us until we pressed record on the episode, which makes for much more fun conversations and discussions, we think!
Sarah’s creative block story
As a teenager, Sarah wrote constantly – stories, poetry, all sorts, and she carried this on into her adult life until she joined the ambulance service. At which point her writing dried up. She noticed at the time, but she had nothing where her inspiration used to be. She’d get frustrated, walk away, return – still nothing. Eventually she replaced it with photography, and then eventually (like 20 years later eventually) the writing returned because of the photography.
It feels flippant now, saying “that time I had writer’s block for 20 years”, but it was also painful at the time. And long, and frustrating. She talks about how she finally reached a point of acceptance that it wasn’t going to happen, resigned herself to that and had all the negative feels – but was able to replace it with another creative pursuit which helped.
(is this the best example of productive procrastination ever?)
Why people think writer’s block isn’t real
(for “writer’s”, substitute “creative” or any other adjective which works for you!)
In her explorations and her journey back to writing, Sarah found lots of suggestions online that writer’s block is a self fulfilling prophecy, and hence not real. In a very brief search while I was writing these show notes, I can concur that the internet only half believes itself…
However, the advice for getting over writer’s block specifically is usually to go and write. Which is a bit circular and weird – and what if you don’t have the inspiration to write, you don’t have any ideas of what to write about or create?
Feeding the block
Do you, intentionally or otherwise, feed your creative block? It’s definitely possible that if the rest of your life is very intense, and you’re a bit like a wrung out sponge, that you probably won’t actually have much left over for creativity sometimes. The ambulance service was definitely an example of a job that took so much, it didn’t leave much left over.
And another thing that can help is time and mental space to get around, past or over your block – and if the rest of your life is intense, and you don’t have any time to just be – that can definitely be problematic.
So in these situations, you’re feeding the block and letting it grow – and there’s not a lot of opportunity to get out of that stuck rut.
And again using Sarah as an example, she says there were three or four years where she wrote nothing more than a shopping list or an email.
Troubling beliefs
Beliefs we often don’t even know we hold can be behind our creative block – whether it’s a conviction that you have to be unhappy in order to create, or that artists never make decent money, or whatever it is – we tell ourselves some really weird stories that our brains then believe to be truth.
It’s helpful to identify what stories and narratives you are telling yourself, so you can figure out if any of them need a bit of tweaking.
There’s also a widely held focus on academia rather than creativity in the education system, at least in the UK. In the 90s and early 00s, if you made noises at school about wanting to do something creative for a living, it was squashed fairly flat. And this is obviously anecdotal, but also the same story from so many creatives who now do create for a living.
Carla’s take on creative block
While we were talking through the concept of creative block, Carla had the realisation that she’s never really experienced it in the sense of not having ideas. She always has ideas – often too many of the bloody things – and so her creative block manifests in knowing she wants to do something and even what that something is, and not having the time, energy or oomph to do it.
Bereavement was the most obvious form of this for her – when she lost her Dad, she wasn’t able to do the stuff she wanted to, even if she felt inspired. And the same happens when she’s burned out.
So rather than being a block of nothing, it’s a physical overwhelm kind of a block. Which feels different, but has the same end result of no output!
Ideas for tackling creative block
Obviously listen in for the full discussion on this, but some of the ideas we’ve had, been told, have tried or have successfully used are:
- Don’t start with a blank page or screen
- Get it all out in any format, and then edit – you can’t edit nothing
- Keep a sketchbook of everything that inspires you (and listen to our inspiration episode too) so you can use this as your starting point
- Try not to set your own expectations of yourself too high
- Morning Pages (Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way is a brilliant resource and this is one of the very best things from it)
- Spells for feeling well – aka a cheat sheet of the things which fill your well, make you feel happy and creative, and that you love to do, which bring you joy. If they’re there in written or picture form, you can see them even when you’re in a blocked spiral and use them to help you step out and up
- Self parenting – so not just the self care of bubble baths and blankets, but going to bed on time, eating well, that sort of thing.
- Give yourself some structure and a very short starting point – can you write for five minutes? One minute? Often starting is the hardest part and once you’ve started, your block will start to fall away
- If you have someone who can remind you of vital things like taking your vitamins, stepping away from the computer, etc, that is helpful. If you don’t and you don’t want to share your home, set Alexa to work reminding you stuff regularly!
- Keep your swipe file, scanner daybook, bank of ideas or whatever else you call it to hand – it might be different from your sketchbooks but it’s super important to unlocking your block, and for not starting with a blank page
- Make sure you do have some proper time off – that you’re not just working and creating without a break. Rest can be the biggest thing when we’re feeling stuck.
And finally
As ever, we have strong opinions but we don’t have all the answers, so we’d love to know what you guys think and your experiences. Have you had creative block? What does it feel like for you? What helps you get past it?