I'm writing anyway because I think that's what this blog is all about. Creating habits, working through blocks, learning not to let things stop you. Today, it's hard. So, I had started a post about motivation and how it seems to work, but I'm saving that for another day.
Today, it's easier to talk about what's in front of me. I feel shut down from anything creative.
In The Artist's Way, she talks a lot about gremlins. It's basically the voice inside of you that keeps you down. It talks badly about you - to you. My gremlin voice is the biggest jerk ever! (says the 12 year old inside of me)
What triggers a gremlin and sends it soaring to the front of your brain? For me, it's sadness and/or fear. Fear of failure, fear of doing it wrong, fear of life changes I can't handle - my gremlin apparently doesn't find me very capable. It's a persistent voice that somehow manages to push through a thousand other thoughts and doesn't let anything get in it's way. If only my confidence had that kind of focus.
As I work on my writing, I hear, "Who do you think you are to write? You've never written anything substantial. Writers are much smarter than you. You don't have the stamina or follow through. You don't have the discipline!" That stupid gremlin goes on and on and on. Honestly, what a nag!
The good news is that a) it's less prevalent than it used to be, and b) I am learning tools to combat the gory beast. Things that help for me are:
1. Writing stream of consciousness in hopes of unplugging the dam.
2. Exercising and then coming back to it.
3. A good cup of coffee. (Caffeine, a drug, I know. But hey, at least it's not Irish Whiskey.)
4. And, of course, blogging about it.
My gremlin, at the moment, is saying, "No one cares what you do to get un-stuck or ward me away? Nobody will read this!"
I wrote anyway. Now I'm posting. Have that Mr. Gremlin!
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