Margo Christie
By taking a break from the seriousness of it.
Before writing THESE DAYS, I spent most of my creative life as a visual artist. I've done everything from painting and drawing to jewelry-making and stained-glass. I'm also an occasional burlesque performer and a ballroom dancing hobbyist. All art stems from a deep need to create something beautiful and inspiring, but writing is more soul-baring than any of the other arts. Perhaps this is why writers get blocked: We worry a lot about how readers perceive us on a deeply personal level.
When I'm blocked, I spend a few weeks making a series of drawings or practicing a new dance. Since art and dancing are things I don't take as personally as writing, I do them without the pressure to be "right" or "acceptable." Then I return to the keyboard with a mind less restricted.
Above all, I avoid comparing myself to other writers. Just because someone else writes and is successful following a certain regimen doesn't mean I have to follow their regimen. We all have different processes; our wells are filled at different intervals from different sources. Not all writers write every day.
Before writing THESE DAYS, I spent most of my creative life as a visual artist. I've done everything from painting and drawing to jewelry-making and stained-glass. I'm also an occasional burlesque performer and a ballroom dancing hobbyist. All art stems from a deep need to create something beautiful and inspiring, but writing is more soul-baring than any of the other arts. Perhaps this is why writers get blocked: We worry a lot about how readers perceive us on a deeply personal level.
When I'm blocked, I spend a few weeks making a series of drawings or practicing a new dance. Since art and dancing are things I don't take as personally as writing, I do them without the pressure to be "right" or "acceptable." Then I return to the keyboard with a mind less restricted.
Above all, I avoid comparing myself to other writers. Just because someone else writes and is successful following a certain regimen doesn't mean I have to follow their regimen. We all have different processes; our wells are filled at different intervals from different sources. Not all writers write every day.
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