Fantasy Paradise discussion

Hi y'all!
I recently posted something related to this topic so I wanted to share it with Fantasy Paradise as well. If you have any other strategies or methods you use to overcome writers block please feel free to share them here as well! :)

"Yes, writer block is a tricky obstacle to overcome, however, in my opinion it's just a matter of letting go of expectations and learning to switch gears. Leave the house, go on an adventure, hike in a thick forest, watch the stars, and hang out with positive people who inspire growth within you! If you have writers block don't fight it! Just enjoy it, embrace it!

There was a story about an emperor that lived in China, extremely wealthy, extremely respected extremely powerful, and highly intelligent. He had to take a trip to Mongolia with a few of his guards, to greet his cousins whom lived at that region. So he left his huge, immense fortress to his servants and guards to take care of while he was off on journey.

Perhaps a few days later, an ugly, smelly demon appeared. This demon sat right upon the emperors chair. Then the servants came up to the demon and said nasty things such as “you fool what the fuck are you doing.”, “idiot leave right now you are not wanted” but in Chinese so “Say baht-poh”, “Sek si”, “Yat-zeu”, “Pok gai”, “Mo-lan”, “Kai dei”, “Sei Fei Lo”, “Hui sik si la”, “Lay yow mow low gah?” and “Haahng-lan-heui”! (lol you get the picture). And the demon GREW more powerful, stronger, more ugly, more smelly, more slimy..ext. and the servants could not believe their eyes, nor could they comprehend why or how it was doing so. They continued arrogantly and stubbornly to throw things at it, and call it even more rugged, scurrilous, and unpleasant names.

The more the servants and guards try to go against It by putting it down, and “fighting” it, (for THEY DID NOT ACCEPT the demon) the more it began to grow, more ugly, more smelly, intently slimy and venomously, tempestuously fierce. At that point the empire had returned, and they came to the emperor asked him: “what do we do, we told it to leave, we tried to beat it, and destroy it -to conquer it- but it got bigger, stronger more smelly, more intensely gruesome.”. He was the emperor for a reason, he knew exactly what to do. The emperor then walk towards a tea kettle, and poured some tea into a cup. Then kindly, went towards the demon, and said: “here is some tea, is there anything else I may offer you for your very pleasant stay?” and the demon slowly began to shrink, less smelly, less gruesome and less slimy.

The servants quickly picked up what the emperor had done, and they ran around, grabbing another foot stool, some big fans to cool down the demon. Made him feel comfortable, cared for and accepted. The demon again slowly began to shrink, until he reached his normal size. The servants then continues “oh we are truly glad that you may join us for dinner, here is some soup” or “ what you look ravishing, those bumps on you should be a new trend”..ext. And for every compliment the demon received it shrank smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared.
Just like this story you need you learn to accept your writers block, don't run away from it or try to combat it with negative emotions for that will merely feed the flames which strengthen it. Just do the opposite, let yourself feel it, and it will become untangled on its own. Also I highly suggest you get out of your normal routine and explore different things you normally don't. And of course doing regular exercise to keep your energy from being stagnant also helps quite a bit! :)"

N.J., I love the analogy, it is undeniably true. I've strayed from using the term "writer's block" recently because, as you state, it's a hard struggle to accept and often adds even more stress when you feed into the negative emotions it brings.

I've learned that allowing myself to take breaks from writing (usually when I am stuck) to either read, research, or do something else that is fun, and not feeling guilty about these breaks helps undo those negative feelings and leads me to being more productive.

F.j., yes, the morning pages are great. I enjoyed The Artist's Way, and suggest every writer read it and do the exercises. I'm sad to admit that after the 12 week program I have yet to get back into the morning pages, and I need to get back to my artist dates as well.

I like the Chinese story about feeding the Demon with negatively. I too go for a walk in the woods. I think it is my Celtic roots. The UK was once a massive forest before Rome raped it. If I don't get inspiration from walking in the woods, I have a nice fat spliff! That normally does the trick. It is for medical reasons of course. It calms me down and the cogs start turning in my head.