The Solution

It’s back. Writer’s block has reared its nasty head again

And I am again resorting to my own fallback, which is

to write about my “writer’s block” and post it out there just to enforce that I am trying to write myself out of it. I thought this was a solution. I determined by this method of writing I was solving this. That is until a friend of mine asked for an opinion on her article.

The article was a political opinion piece reflecting on the recent SCOTUS decisions concerning the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the turning back of the clock with EPA regulations.

It was an angry article graphically laying out her opinion on those decisions.

In the article, graphic descriptions of her anger towards these opinions could strongly be felt, and with that theme, she was successful. The anger oozed out of the words and could be felt.

As much as I admired that style of writing, something hit me. For all my friend’s disappointments and anger towards the decisions handed down by the SCOTUS, nothing was offered to solve those criticisms. When I mentioned that to her after reading, she did revise the article. Still, the article had already injected its effect on me and my writing, particularly my case of writer’s block.

I realized that as angry as she was about the state of politics, I was as disappointed in myself for not coming up with something to write about. She wrote about her anger as her action on what was happening. I use my “I can’t write, so I’m writing about how I can’t write” method to make a change. In our minds, we were doing something. In reality, we were solving nothing. The bottom line is problems require solutions. And that is one of the critical cornerstones of life.y

I solve nothing by writing about how I have nothing. Through meditation on this, spurred on by that Eureka moment, I realize that it isn’t writer’s block that is back, but fear.

It’s the old saying again, “No matter how carefully you step up to a mirror, your reflection always will stare back at you.” Looking into the mirror, I realize I have plenty to write about. Hell, I’m a freelance writer for a website with assignments. But they are actual notices to write, and researching and putting those articles out there is scary.

There is also the Internet. I googled “Why are writers scared to write?” and brought up hundreds of articles explaining my predicament. These articles laid out the reasons for those fears and provided solutions. And I won’t even begin to tell you how many websites offer writing prompts.

Solutions are substances for society. One of those societies is the writing world. I plan on reaching out to my friend and thanking her for providing that moment of insight for me. That’s the importance of a writer getting out there and having friends. Being tied to just a keyboard gets you nowhere. But I’ve already written about that.

So this article brings about the conclusion to my writing about nothing to solve my problems about something. Fear is always a force of nature that is with us. Maybe a solution is to use it as a tool to find that one cure-all for all things, the solution.