Panic not! And there’s panic already creeping up your leg since I had to go and open my big mouth… Easy. There are blog entries and videos to the brim about how to deal with writer’s block that for sure is the same for designers.
And it is prone to happen; that from time to time and every other fortnight we run out of ideas. Usually at the beginning; when we’re still in lack of those muscles that get fatty after a year of pumping them. The writer/designer/drawer/engineer’s muscle which knows where is the IDEA and even smells it before it comes by. Or “in the half of the book” crisis or the “now what do I write?” crisis.
To us, the rookies (no matter how old we’re), it comes as being couch athletes. We can’t even get up to get ourselves a glass of water. O to go and write/design because anything else becomes more attractive than designing/writing/drawing/WORKING. No matter how hateful it is. Like taking an old t-shirt and clean around. I hate cleaning… but I clean when I should be writing!
So long, do you wanna know how to focus and do what you must instead of counting reasons? First, a disclaimer. This blog entry is a mix of ideas by cathy Birch (The creative writer’s workbook), mine and someone else somewhere. The thing is, I don’t remember which is which. Thus, authorship is confusing, opaque and…let’s stop my mumbling.
- GET YOUR ARSE OUT FROM YOUR CHAIR. Stop looking at the blank page (either digital or real) and get your brain to do something else. We tend to obviate the familiar stuff and thus we take it for granted. Such an action takes us to make mistakes. It is better to look at it again from some other angle.
- Break the routine and do your eye gym ten minutes’ thing. You are not writing anything anyways, therefore you can distract yourself with something good for you health.
- No, in this blog I won’t promote suicide. Physcal exercise is good for your body but I won’t recommend you to do aerobic stuff or to jump anytime your health forbids so. Ypu can always look up any virtual walkout and simulate walking there or to find a YouTube video without jumping. The most demanding and at the same time easy to do activity is yoga. That some postures take too much on back, neck and knees is something you need to reckon before trying them. Always check with your physician before taking any new exercise routine if you’re with any cardiac, knee, spine or cholesterol problem.
- Clean. Mind’s webs disappear too by cleaning in real life. A dust free space is cleaner and healthier.
- Do you have children? Play! For sure they have less of these “inner judge” inhibitions and much more ideas than you do. Besides, children have a very thorough logic and see black and white things. This can help to re-think what you know about a topic. Does it embarrass you? I don’t see why. You’re telling a story and playing is to have Guinea pigs to your advantage to try how good a story is.
- GO GET YOURSELF A COFFEE/TEA/COCOA MUG. Cathy Birch says it is better to have wathever you might need hand reach and never waste time looking them up. However… if you’re already wasting time watching the blank of space, why not to give your brain a break? It can give it some fresh oxygen and an environment switch. Right. Don’t overeat. You will feel extra heavy and sleepy, more like napping than like placing your fingers over the keyboard. You will get fat… So what? An over weighted body feels like that. Over weighted on the knees and on the legs. Gravity is more difficult to deal with to move it and cholesterol makes your muscles to produce lactic acid even quicker. Indeed, your choice.
- Change location. Under the table, in some other room, the bathroom, anywhere but move yourself. Quite impossible if you do drawing or #D design but… you can always take a notebook somewhere else. Don’t complaint and better think: How can I go to work to other place? Anyways, to think over and over the problem isn’t going to solve it any faster when you’re stuck.
- Do you feel pressured to increase productivity? Remember, we have been through quarantine. Some say they will never pay attention to such measurement again but even if we weren’t under such settings; you’re not under dead threat. Do what you can. Don’t hope for anything else. As alcoholices do. A day at a time, a page at a time. Keep your calm.
- Go napping. Yur brain needs to sleep too.
- If all the previous fail… GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING. Sometimes a faulty set up of the idea causes the flow to be obstructed and the story might not reach anywhere. If such is the case, START ALL OVER AGAIN.
Up to here. Any additional idea you might have is cherised. ALONG comments. Like, suscribe, take a pause to recycle. Ciao, ciao.
