Writing on the Wall

So I’ve hit a wall.

I’ve got plenty going on in my life right now, a lot of it really good, but for some unknown reason I’m having a very difficult time writing about it, here or in my journal. It’s a common enough occurance in the life of a writer, but damn is it annoying when it happens.

The last time I went through this was at least 5 years ago, and it was hell. I’d sit down, journal in hand and pen at the ready, and I simply couldn’t start. The blank pages taunted me.

This time round I have both a blank page and a blank screen to face, and it’s not any better. Perhaps it’s because my focus is changing, but my writing habits haven’t yet. The moment my pen hovers over the paper a couple decades of habit come into play, and it’s a struggle to not fall back into those comfortable ways.

Well, you’ll just all get to come along for the ride then, won’t you?

Time Tells

Years ago, after hearing about it from a particularly enthused person, I picked up a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I read it, I liked parts of it, and thought why not try what she suggests?

For a while I was very faithful to her idea of doing morning pages, and just as faithful to the idea of an artist’s date. Then one day, I missed doing the MP’s, and then I got rather spotty at doing them, and then something came up, and then… and then I stopped doing them altogether. I kept meaning to go back to it but the habit hadn’t really set yet, and it was easy to say I’ll start again tomorrow. Well, that was over a year ago. I was a bit better about the AD’s, but eventually those flagged too and got put on the list of things to do when I’m done everything else.

You know that list – we all have one.

So why write about another failed experiment?

Well it turns out that it wasn’t as much of a failure as I thought. No, I’m not doing morning pages regularly, but I am writing. And while I don’t do regular artist dates, I’ve noticed that I give myself more opportunities for them to happen; for instance, my sweetie and I got a membership to the Vancouver art gallery, and I’ve been there more often in the past few months than during my whole time in Vancouver.

Some would call it indulgent, but I think Ms. Cameron’s onto something. Who knows? Maybe I will get around to doing those morning pages again…