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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Writer's Block

Once I thought writer's block was a variety of Lego or a shady patch on the road. It's neither, I've decided. There are quiet zones in the most passionate writer where your creative outflow slows to a standstill, your main character won't speak to you and the music freezes to silence. It's not like sadness or doubt, so much as quietness, and that can be a good thing too.
Music needs space to allow the mind to wait and soak, even small notes beg attention and drag us away from contemplation. I thought my MC was sulking and had lost me, that writing was a task I wouldn't choose. But my MC waited as days passed and spoke in time. It was all about allowing colour to bend and break, until the plain white resurfaced as a rainbow.
I need to love the silence as much as the days that pound without space. I want to remember that life is made of seasons, mumbling days of droning will pour out their scrambled notes and force us to embrace the stillness with the same kindness we gave to the moments of beauty. And even to believe that the stillness is as beautiful, because it chose to make us wait. When we are no longer slaves to completeness, when the noise is a friend and the silence a backdrop for paused spaces, we are free to be paced by eternity.

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for these peaceful words. When the words won't come, or only arrive jumbled and stupid, self-doubt can freeze a person. The words are always still there, waiting for their moment.

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    1. sorry for the late reply, and thank you for your comment on my blog. I'm starting to write again

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  2. Lovely to meet you. I am an Aussie Blogger/writer also. I agree that silence is golden and it gives time to also listen to Gods voice.
    Blessings Crystal Mary

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  3. Hey Jill, this is a beautifully worded post.
    I don't recall suffering from writer's block - perhaps I need to have more quiet ( or some quiet) ... hmmm
    Happy New Year.
    xx

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  4. Thank you, it's lovely to meet you too. I'm starting to move back into writer's-sphere again...the home of the eternal and loving God

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  5. Thanks Michelle, It's sometimes difficult to find quiet moments while the children are so young. Mine are all teens now, so I have more time to myself, but somehow Nano froze me this year,
    jill xx

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