Beyond the Textbook

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Beyond the Textbook

Laurie Lupold

Writer's Block

Every writer experiences that time when they place themselves in front of their writing software program and do nothing but stare at the blank sheet of paper on the screen. The more they attempt a creative thought the more frustrated they become when none arise. It appears hopeless and you feel as if you'll never create again.

As writers we can prepare for these unfortunate times. As an admirer of Blue, the star of Blues Clues, I make it a habit to carry my handy dandy notebook. What I write in it at the time might not have any legitimate meaning but later might become a great source for my creativity. The sights, sounds, touches, smells, feelings and thoughts, thoughts, thoughts I develop might not make sense at the time. Later they may become quite productive. Feelings are a way of neutralizing our lives. So many issues go on around us that our emotions become an area of significant energy. Whether it be something as insignificant as the color of a man's hair to the current events surrounding our lives our feelings are of utmost importance.

You might say that thoughts and feelings are much the same, when in fact a thought is something to which we pick randomly without much attention but a feeling is something to which we gave much consideration. Keeping a journal of these expressions gives us some place to turn back to later to maintain activity in our creative experience.

For the poetry writer, might I suggest a play on words? Randomly select from the dictionary a handful of words. Place the words in front of you and create a poem containing each one of the words you picked out. While this might not ensure publishable material, it is a bit amusing to see what you can come up with and it enhances that part of your mind which you use to create. While these are just a couple of the many resources to help break down the block, they are highly productive. Give them a try and let me know how useful they were for you.