Take A Meeting
I’ve made a big deal about Writer’s Block over the last week and how I have been trying to overcome its word paralysis. And if you study the affliction, you will read that it doesn’t exist or that several other factors contribute to the plight. But there’s one in particular that I have discovered for myself, and maybe you can relate.
People. Places. Things. I know that over the last two years, during the height of the COVID pandemic, we were forced to quarantine, sequestering ourselves from society and all people in general. It just wasn’t natural. But that was a necessary evil. To me, separation from others was crippling as a writer. Maybe my writer’s block was a residual of that time. But now, there is no excuse for staying inside.
Not living in seclusion is vital for all of us. I don’t care what you may think, but all writing has autobiographical elements of the writer. Within the choosing of the words and the structure of a sentence, a writer can’t help but infuse tiny aspects of themselves within those parameters. It’s experience and life that fuels the fire.
But what if you’re not living life to the fullest? What if you spend more time with your keyboard than outside the world? Unless it’s work-related or project-driven, don’t you think you’re wasting time?
We all are subject to two questions in our lifetimes:
- Who am I?
- How long Have I got?
Only one question can be answered, but we must live to know the answer.
The other question is decided by something else way more significant than ourselves. Its answer is the end all be all, and then what do you get?
A writer must answer the first question because that is where they will find their source material, which involves getting out there and living life.
If we expect to write anything, we have to get out into the world and live the lives we have been given. And the main ingredient to this is people.
How else will you formulate ideas, create situations, find conflict, and learn to resolve them? Other people are life incarnate. It is impossible to experience what your neighbor down the street has experienced. But what is possible is to take that knowledge and expand it into a story, maybe basing your characters on them and what you have learned from them. Hell, you might even strike up a friendship. That door could open up hundreds of imaginative elements.
You say there just isn’t enough time? I have too much to do? I don’t know what you do in life, but experiencing life has got to be a priority in my world. What materials would I have to write about when I’m not collecting them?
You’re not a writer? People are still important. Relationships matter because they teach us what the world is all about. And since all of us call this planet home, we have much to learn.
And that knowledge becomes the sum of our lives. People take us places. Similarities and differences all affect how we live and view our lives. Staying at home, not talking, and more importantly, not listening creates a shell of a person with nothing but themselves to form a perspective. And perspective is a two-part equation.
So I’m going to finish this article, grab some breakfast, get dressed, and get out there. There’s a lot of source material waiting, people to see and meet, source material to be gathered, and a life to be lived.
What are YOU waiting for?
