Mike "Pops" Klumpp

I don’t know how writer’s block manifests in your world. For me, it comes to visit through avoidance.

Sub-consciously I am very busy and each time I come to the task there is some other “thing” which demands my attention. Most recently, I sat to work on a script. The absolute last moment deadline is tomorrow. In fairness, the last few weeks have been ridiculously demanding. However, as a writer, writing is what I should be about. I haven’t been.

I have been about emails and football scores and my fantasy team and vacuuming the house and taking the dog out and…you name it. I have let it be more important than writing.

Just a moment ago, I opened my Final Draft software to begin my script. I started. Now, I will write. Once started…once I arrest the avoidance, the writing, the ideas, the words all come. And, as art inspires art, the blog post that I have also been avoiding is also now being written.

Remember, the first step to gaining control is face life as it is not as you wish it was or want it to be. I have to recognize that I am avoiding writing.

Step two is to get rid of all negatives. Stop the avoidance and sit down at the keyboard or with pen and paper.

The third step is to be proactive. Write! Even if it is bad, write. It can be rewritten. But you can never fix the project you don’t start.

Going through the holidays, there will be any number of distractions. Weigh them out. Prioritize your art. If you are a writer – Write! Beware of avoidance. In the words of Carl Sandburg from the last line of the poem Joy “keep away from the little deaths”.

Whatever it is you do – Do it!