Blogging to Shift Road Blocks

B is for Blogging

When I get stuck as a writer, one of the most helpful things for me to do is blog. Blogging is writing but a post is shorter, obviously than writing a novel. Some of my fellow bloggers write poetry, short stories, recipes, rituals, book reviews, and post photography or art projects.

When I began blogging, years ago, I did quite long posts and admittedly, at times, I rambled, going all over the place. These days, I enjoy downloading my thoughts usually in a notebook or work page first, pairing the words with interesting imagery, in small parcels, and then editing it all on Blogger.

Blogging reaches people, almost immediately, whereas it can take years to write a novel, often working in isolation. It is the isolation that I find to be a very difficult aspect of being an author; as a blogger though, we are a part of a community. Almost as quickly as thoughts form and congeal, they can be posted and a conversation begins.

When we encounter road blocks, an object preventing movement, has been put in our way. Similarly, creative blocks are things in our way, often self-imposed through thinking in a negative or limiting manner. 

Moving Forward c. 2016, Stephanie Rose Bird, mixed media on paper

Posting specifically about creative blocks in as honest a way as possible, can be freeing. 

·        First of all you are admitting publicly what is going on. This act of owning your challenge is liberating.

·        Secondly, you can elicit advice and suggestions for how to move forward in your studio or written work, within your post.

·        Depending on your personality, your cry for help might be vague and open, or very specific.

·        Blogging can also be light, even silly or humorous. This turns what was thought of as a serious and heavy sort of thing into a light object, like a balloon. As a balloon, lifting the creative block out of the way is inevitable because of the lightness with which it is viewed.

·        Shifting is another tactic, I've blogged about a lot here, but this time let's think about it in terms of blogging. Whereas you were hyper-focused on one topic, blogging allows you to shift from topic to topic, if you so choose. 

   I know many of you reading this post are bloggers, but some are either new to it or wonder how it can be applied to the rest of your life, away from an activity such as the Z to Z Challenge. Hopefully, you've found some new ways of thinking about what blogging can offer your life and how doing it can move, or at least shift the weight of stubborn creative blocks.