Merida Johns

"The writer is an explorer.  Every step is an advance into a new land."  --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am an explorer when I write. As I walk on the well-trodden path, studying my values, beliefs, culture, and experiences, scrubby side trails invite me to take a chance, leave behind the superficial and known, and take the risk to explore the concealed, unresolved, and mysterious.  Blackhorse Road took me on the forgiveness trail and led me to take more risks and roam bumpy paths in Flower Girl—ones needing more unraveling—shame, self-discovery, agency, and purpose.   

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I recently answered a question on Goodreads, "How do you deal with writer's block?"

There are myriad definitions of writer's block, but Merriam-Webster probably has it right—a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece.  I think we all have experienced writer's block one time or another that invokes irritation, frustration, exasperation, and even conjures up an inner critic who is ready to heap tons of self-blame on us.

When I get writer's block, I see it as an opportunity to clear my mind, and I push that frustration and inner critic to the side and take a minute.  Writer's block is my brain telling me it is overloaded—it needs a rest; it needs a small retreat.  I call it the mindful minute. 

The mindful minute can take various forms.  Sometimes it is just sitting, taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, and being with myself and just listening!  Listening to the sounds around me, being curious about them, and not judging whether they are good or bad.  When extraneous thoughts come to mind, I acknowledge them and then gently push them away and go back to listening.  Other times, it is sitting, taking a breath, closing my eyes, and focusing on my emotions.

So, when I hit a writer's block, I look at it as an opportunity to recharge my creativity. I take a mindful minute (or maybe two or three).  Afterward, I write down my feelings about the experience in my writer's journal, and my creativity is awakened its flow breaks through the writer's block.  Here are examples of my "in the minute" journal entries:

9/13/2020:  In the minute listening:  Although I cannot see them, I can hear and visualize the piano keys in deliberate slowness moving up and down, producing the clearest of sounds.  What beat is that, I ask? Whole notes, half notes?  What does it feel like to be a piano key moving in that purposeful order?

9/14/2020:  In the minute smiling:  Feel what happens when you smile:  I smiled, and tranquility came over me, and I felt I as if I were floating on air.  I felt at peace.  I felt that nothing else mattered except being in this moment of calm.

See writer's block as an opportunity to recharge creativity!