Is Writer’s Block a lack of internal permission to write?

(Photo credit: photosteve101)

I’ve had my own personal theory about Writer’s Block, that it doesn’t actually exist. Now I’m not saying that people don’t experience a condition that we call Writer’s Block. I’m aware that many documented cases exist, and I experience it myself from time to time.

Wikipedia describes Writer’s block as a condition “in which an author loses the ability to produce new work.” My theory is that Writer’s Block is not an actual loss of ability to write, but is instead a lack of internal permission to write.

Resistance is futile. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I periodically encounter an internal resistance, both as a blogger and as a Toastmaster. My inner self provides a topic for me to write about or to make a speech about. My internal resistance gets in my way and tells me, it’s not good enough, it won’t measure up to past works, it’s too personal, I’m not ready to share this with others. Perhaps this resistance is what people call fear. I may get stuck at this point of resistance and not write at all. I may search in vain for an alternate topic to write about and find that I have no inspiration or passion to write about them. I have noticed that when I wrestle down and overcome the point of resistance and give myself permission to write authentically about the topic I’ve been resisting then I soon reconnect with inspiration and passion.

I’ve experienced this cycle many times while working towards my Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB) designation. Having put myself on a schedule of giving a speech every other week, I did not have the luxury to wait until I had a super-inspired idea for a speech. Usually an idea would come up, I would jot down a few thoughts around it, panic and think that my idea wasn’t strong enough for an entire speech and wonder if it would work, decide that I didn’t have time to come up with anything else and decide that I would make it work, and voila! I would end up giving my speech, somehow it would come together, and I would get great feedback and sometimes even win a ribbon.

If only I could cut the panic stage out of that cycle!

In reality, as I have progressed as a speaker, I have learned how to shorten that panic stage.

Is blogging really any different than public speaking? It differs in certain details and it differs in audience, but overall I think it is more similar than different.

I started drafting a post yesterday intending it as my daily post for today. I had a catchy title and an opening that I liked, but felt resistance towards the middle and end. Perhaps tomorrow I will give myself permission to finish it.

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