The clever (and trite) thing to do here is to reproduce the definition of frustration. Not going to do that as we’re all far too familiar with the feeling.
In particular I’m feeling the frustration of having difficulty writing.
Any kind of writing about anything.
And I have no real idea why.
I wrote several short stories in high school. The other teens that read them weren’t particularly impressed. At least that’s what I remember.
I wrote several more stories in college. My room mates seemed to like them.
What strikes me from those times is that the words seemed to flow like water. I could sit down at my old Underwood, roll in a sheet of paper, and the magic would start.
I wasn’t a particularly good or fast typist, but when writing, the words would simply come.
Ideas, concepts, people, places, things, all would appear on the paper. Most were cliche, simple, unrealistic, and corny. But the words would come.
This wasn’t exclusive to prose, I could dash out bad poetry by the page. Makes me think my true calling is writing greeting card garbage. Isn’t that depressing.
Now the words come slowly, if at all. Perhaps my efforts at improving the quality of what I write have actually made it harder. The idea of an outline, form, or structure was foreign to me. I just sat down and wrote. That seemed to work.
Lots of time in the last few years has been spent reading books on writing, taking classes on writing, and thinking about writing.
And the sum total is that all that activity, all that effort has actually slowed and impeded my ability to put words down.
Am I restricting the natural flow of ideas? Perhaps. Perhaps in attempting to clarify\compress\organize my ideas I’m actually editing my own thoughts out of existence.
We’ve all heard of the process of brainstorming. It’s an actual process a group undertakes to solve problems.
The process has several phases but the first one is the most interesting. In it, group members suggest different ways to solve the problem. The critical thing about this phase is that there is absolutely no criticism or discussion of the viability or quality of the suggestion. In this way, group members are unfettered by any fear of criticism.
That’s what needs to happen in my head.
Hope I can get back there.
