Editorial
Front Page - Friday, November 12, 2010
I Swear...
Writer’s block revisited
Vic Fleming
Last week I began what looks like it may turn into a series of columns.
This exercise started with an anecdote that involved one actor saying to another, “Why don’t you just try acting?”
I intentionally did not make it clear last week that the point of this quotation, in the context of writer’s block, was this: “Why don’t you just try writing?”
That point was also made, less subtly, in a direct quote from the host of the blog site that I was lifting material from, Merlin Mann:
“Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of time.”
Merlin Mann, by the way, is described on his Web site as an “independent writer, speaker and broadcaster” (and, yes, the serial comma is his doing, not mine).
“Past lives,” quoth the 43 Folders site, “have found Merlin toiling as a web developer, project manager, waiter, hardware store remodeler, court room exhibit designer, reluctant telemarketer, and enthusiastic but unprofitable indie rock musician.”
Creation of this unusually named Web site seems to have been one of Merlin’s most noteworthy accomplishments.
The site is said to be “about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.” Who could be against so noble an objective?
Last week, I noted a blog post entitled “Hack your way out of writer’s block” and quoted a few suggestions therefrom. Here are a few others:
“Get away from the computer; write someplace new – If you’ve been staring at the screen and nothing is happening, walk away. Shut down the computer. Take one pen and one notebook, and go somewhere new.”
For the record, I am writing this column in the den, in front of game five of the World Series.
“Add one ritual behavior – Get a glass of water exactly every 20 minutes. Do pushups. Eat a Tootsie Roll every paragraph. Add physical structure.”
For me, it’s Rolos. And diet root beer. No pushups, please.
“Do one chore – Sweep the ?oor or take out the recycling. Try something lightly physical to remind you that you know how to do things.”
That reminds me: Tomorrow’s garbage day and I do need to take some things out to the curb.
And yes, I have writer’s block. For a month now!
Plenty of new ideas every day float in and out of my brain.
But when I sit down to write about them … I got nothing.
So here I sit, writing about a guy named Merlin, who was born in Ohio, raised in Florida and lives now in California.
But I have done what he recommends now.
So, when next week rolls around …
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.
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