Metaphysics
There are two really common reasons why authors get writer’s block.
The first is a lack of inner confidence about their writing ability.
The second is a belief that they simply don’t have the time to write.
These first types of blocks caused by lack of confidence can be caused by an innocent criticism of something written earlier – like an essay that got a black mark at school perhaps.
The solution is to identify the old gestalts and replace them with new patterns that are much more useful. Note though that this doesn’t mean deleting bad memories though as these are useful source material for a writer.
To deal with the second type of block, perceived lack of time, there are many excellent books on how to improve your time management. One I specifically recommend for authors is Time Management for Dummies by Clare (no relation) Evans.
Books like this are brilliant at pointing out where you can claw back time by better managing your day. Additionally, I would like to propose a more lateral and fundamental approach to time management – and that’s to change the perceived speed of time itself.
Now this might seem far fetched, or in the realms of Doctor Who or Back to the Future, but scientists are coming to the conclusion that our reality – our space and time – are linked to our consciousness. In fact, it’s more accurate to say that it’s our very consciousness that actually creates our reality. So all you need to do to change time is to make a change in your consciousness.
I am sure you have heard about athletes who have been “in the zone” – a sort of timeless place – or perhaps you have had a light bulb moment where in less than a second, you get a flash of inspiration – a whole picture for a new idea. If you were able to MRI scan your brain at this moment, you would see both the right and left hemispheres light up in synchronism. For that split second you were Whole Brain (or even Whole Mind) Thinking. A brain scan would show that your brain was generating alpha and probably even theta waves.
Now you can access this state while meditating. When I mention this to authors, their first reaction is that they don’t have time to meditate. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I can testify that 20-30 minutes meditation before a writing session will deliver not only the time back by a factor of 3 or 4 but also much better quality writing.
“But I can’t make my mind go quiet,” is normally the next protest swiftly followed by, “I’d like to meditate but I don’t have time to learn how.”
Well, if you hear yourself saying this, help is now at hand. You don’t need necessarily to enter an ashram for two months. Although, if you did, it might well be time well spent …
Meditation machines are now available that help get you into both alpha and theta states. I have been using a for over a year now and even though I am reasonably adept at meditation, I can testify that they really do work.
I’ve written a free companion guide for users of meditation machines to specifically help authors through writer’s block and to tap into their creative muse …
… you can access it online here
After a few weeks of use, you will even find it easier to enter the meditative state without a machine and while you are in what is normally thought of as the waking state.
For a writer, this become significant as time seems to stretch out so that in a single hour you write what would normally take a whole morning or afternoon.
The benefits to your productivity are therefore immense and you will be amazed at your output in all areas of your life. People who have used machines even get comments of how well they look.
So, if you’d like to take the time to try a meditation machine, they are available from Meditations UK on a 30 day money back guarantee …
http://www.meditations-uk.com/main/choose_meditation_machine.html
Addendum 1:
I’ve just finished reading Steven Taylor’s excellent book called Making Time – it explains in great detail on how this all works and how you can start to control time to your advantage.
Addendum 2:
These two types of blocks are something I deal with in my new book Blocks and my Blockbusting workshop.
curious, this might explain why i feel like this month as been much much longer than normal, been spending a LOT of time in alpha state, much more than normal.
Making time for things and people is hard. There are two ways to do this a) work all hours of the day and night and find yourself underperforming, sick and exhausted b) take time to reflect, to relax, unwind, to mull things over by going for a walk or to sit quietly. I learnt this from the Quakers that I have been around for many years, reflective though and walking are the two most powerful tools to use.
Good recommendations Tim & Paddy – by changing the speed of your consciousness (i.e. slowing down) somewhat ironically you get more done and time seems to expand. Clients and opportunities also come to you – as the Taoists recommend, never use more than 4 ounces of force in any situation.