“All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block, and doctors don’t get doctor’s block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?” Philip Pullman
The main point here is that you do what you have to do.
If you’re a writer, you write. You don’t make excuses for not writing. You don’t wait on the muse. You don’t get blocked. You just write.
That said, I do think writing is different than plumbing or working in the medical field. I spent 13 years as a nurse and it’s a much more concrete type of work than writing. You do what’s in front of you, but you don’t have to use your imagination much or make your words flow, or be creative when you’re ultra tired. You just grab a cup of coffee and continue on, clear-headed or not.
Writing requires a great deal more concentration using the creative parts of the brain. Those parts can get clogged in a way that a plumber can’t fix.
But writer’s block shouldn’t be an excuse for not doing our job.
Click on the button to read more posts in the series 31 Days of Writing Quotes.
Image of sink plumbing courtesy of m kasahara on flickr
1 comment:
So true what you said: "Writer's block is no excuse for not writing."
I think we're not nearly blocked as often as we think are. We're usually just bored (because we feel like we have nothing interesting to write) or frightened (because we fear writing the truth).
When I feel blocked, I've found that working on another creative project helps. :)
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