The Secret Behind Creative Blocks

According to Julia Cameron, the author of Artist’s way, when we open ourselves to creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

When we are blocked creatively, the in-dwelling creative force which is the purest form of life energy gets blocked. Life doesn’t seem worth living. Nothing seems interesting.

Why then do we face creative blocks?

Reasons behind a creative block:

There are many kinds of artistic blocks including limiting beliefs, fear, sabotage, jealousy and guilt. The reason varies from person to person. The most common underlying emotion behind all major creative blocks is usually fear. Fear of failure, fear of criticism or fear of shame. You can find fear arriving under all sorts of masks and personas.

Some of us self-sabotage our creativity. We make U-turns just about at the point where our efforts are beginning to show promise. We give up too easily.

Are you blocking your creativity?

Even the most prolific artists, writers, and dancers sometimes get blocked. Their creative juices stop flowing mysteriously. But in reality, there is nothing mysterious about it. The creativity block usually stems from fear. Creatives then find innovative ways to block their creativity which had created the cause for the fear.

For example, an established writer might find herself blocked after a particularly nasty review. An aspiring writer might find himself blocked after a beta reader, who doesn’t understand what he is trying to bring out through his work, labels the work as half-baked with no promise.

A painter might find herself blocked after a particularly unsuccessful show. A dancer might face creativity block after a disastrous stage performance.

After that, they would find ways to distract themselves from being lured by their own inner creator.

Most of them would find solace in the creativity of others.

They might go on reading binges, watching movies endlessly or might find comfort in food and alcohol. Anything to numb the creative energy that demands to be given an outlet.

The first major step you have to undertake to unblock your creativity is to confront your block.

What is it that you fear? 

What is the payback from being blocked?

How are you blocking your creativity?

Are you bingeing on something to numb your creativity? What is it?

Who is your worst critic?

Answer these questions as honestly as you can. Then we can find ways to eliminate the block.

Do comment below if you are facing a creative block and want to remove it.

The next post will deal with the ways to unblock creativity.
If you haven't read the first part of this series on creativity, read it here:

 Part 1: Who gets to decide that you are a writer?

Who Gets to Decide that You are a Writer?

I recently met a writer friend with whom I had lost contact since months. We discussed many things and when I broached the topic of writing, she told me she didn’t consider herself as a writer anymore. I was baffled. Just months ago, she was brimming with story ideas. At that time, she was halfway through her next novel.

“I don’t think I am good enough. You know,  this reviewer trashed my book last month. I am blocked completely. I don’t think I can write ever again,” she said.

I could completely relate to her. Hadn’t I gone through a similar phase last year? The agony of not being able to pursue the one thing that she loved the most was evident in every word she uttered. I am writing this post series for her and for all such blocked creatives out there.

We are all born creative. We think we are the best artists in the world till the age of three or four. That is almost the age when we first start hearing about what is wrong in what we have created. Our creativity sometimes dies at that point in time when we first faced our worst critic. Many of us can only draw stick figures how much ever hard we try. Because it was at that stage where we had stopped drawing or trying to draw. That was when, years ago, our art teacher/ classmate showed our drawing to the whole class and mocked it. Most of us stay blocked after that for a lifetime. The ones who survive become masters of their craft.

A writer or any creator, as a matter of fact, is always their own worst critic. It is after fighting their inner demons that they put up their work in public. And when someone ridicules it after ticking off their own checklist of what goes into the making of that particular genre of art, the doubts they had harbored long in their mind gets cemented. Many succumb to the insecurities within and stop creating art completely. The fear that gets awakened is often soul numbing.

Jane Austen published her books anonymously initially. Women in the regency era were not supposed to write. Wordsworth and Coleridge stopped writing poetry after an initial burst of creativity in their youth. Harper Lee didn’t publish another novel for many years after the massive success of her first novel ‘To Kill a mockingbird.’

Some others got recognition only after their death. When Vincent Van Gogh died in 1890, he had sold only one painting. His works were ridiculed by art critics then. His paintings gained popularity only after 1910.

Emily Dickinson hid most of her poems fearing public shaming as her writings were highly personal. It was after her death that many of her brilliant poems were published. 

Franz Kafka considered as the most influential writer of the twentieth century died without seeing any of his books published. No publisher was ready to publish them.

If you browse through history, you will find many other brilliant creators who stopped creating altogether after encountering creative blocks.

The question that needs to be answered is who gets to decide that you are a writer or an artist? Who gets to control your creative instincts?

The answer should be and is always ‘you’!

Only you know what you are capable of creating. Don’t let anyone judge you by a piece of art that you have created. Don’t let anyone brand you as a loser because your creativity did not appeal to them. Creativity is how your soul expresses itself. Never allow anyone or anything to darken the light that it shines upon your life. Never allow your inner child to cower in fear.

 So how do we unblock our creativity?

That requires another post.

Next post: The Secret behind Creative Blocks

Thinking Straight with Anita's attic

Anita's Attic

Imagine walking down a dark, strange corridor guided only by intuition. If you are very lucky, you might reach your destination unhurt. If not, you will inevitably stumble and fall.

What would happen if you are guided along the same corridor by somebody who is familiar with its every nook and corner? What if your guide switches on the lights along the path one by one? The journey suddenly turns pleasant. You become confident. There is a spring in your step.

I was walking along a dark alley and now I have light shining upon my path. The guide I have been blessed with is Anita Nair.

I started writing in 2013.I have been published in four anthologies and a novella till now. My blog has never seen a dull phase from the time it was born. Writing is the purest pleasure for me.

The paperback of my debut novel ‘Without You’ was published in June 2015 by Write India Publishers. I self-published the eBook version on Amazon Kindle in September 2015. The eBook has remained in the top 10 bestseller list in its category (Fantasy, Futuristic, and Ghost) on Amazon India and also entered the top 100 bestselling books in Romance every now and then. Strangers wrote to me telling how much they liked my book. I was getting positive reviews from many book reviewers as well. I was pumped with enthusiasm that I had chosen the right path. I wrote every day and completed the first draft of my second novel as well.

Then something happened in February 2016 that changed everything. A review that trashed my book written by a fellow blogger (whom I had considered as a friend) surfaced online. The review was shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads and had hence entered my newsfeed.

Many bloggers whom I knew celebrated my downfall on that blog by commenting how ridiculous the book sounded. Some lamented how it had become a bestseller, some wanted to burn my book and some blamed Indian authors for bringing down literature as a whole. I blocked all these bloggers who were on my friend list on social media. They didn’t take it lightly. They trolled me on twitter for doing it.

It was a dark phase in my life. I couldn’t write. I felt suffocated. Sadness and self-doubt flooded my being. I wanted to quit writing. My friends and family were against it. They told me that was exactly what my haters wanted. I tried writing again. But my confidence was at an all-time low. I spent time reading and writing mundane blog posts but fiction was eluding me. I didn’t like the stories I wrote. 

Then in June, a Facebook post about Anita’s attic grabbed my attention. Anita Nair is my favorite writer. To get a chance to be mentored by her seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel for me. I wrote for the entry prompt at the site and applied for a seat in the fourth season. Very next day I received a call from Anita’s Attic telling that I was selected. Though I got selection in July, I didn’t celebrate my selection publicly for fear that it would become jinxed. That was how much I cherished it. I really don’t know what would have happened to the writer in me if I was not selected.

My confidence level is up now and the goddess of fiction is eyeing me with kind eyes again. Every class at the attic brings in new ideas. The feedback I receive from Anita guides me on the right path.

I am now thinking straight. I am thankful now for that darkness which led me towards the light.