My kid wasn’t a Disney movie fanatic, so I didn’t see Finding Dory until one day when I was sitting in the pediatrician’s waiting room. My kiddo was just in for a well-check and old enough to read and chill while waiting. Great, I thought, I can get some work done. I reached for my backpack but realized I’d forgotten my computer. Argh! Here were thirty golden minutes (or more—when are doctors on time?) that I could use to make progress on my writing. There was a scene I had to get written, but I’d been stuck, empty of ideas. And now I was annoyed and stuck. I had writer’s block.
I needed to shut out my annoying inner voice scolding me that I hadn’t brought a way to work. The cute, clueless little blue fish on the screen in front of me was about my only option. And hey, I like blue. Blue is calming, right?
At the time I decided to zone in on Dory’s story, she’d found herself alone in the deep ocean with no memory of how to get back to her home, the aquarium. After a moment of stress, she calmed herself down by focusing on just step one instead of the end goal. Not which path would take her home, but just which landmark in front of her—which pebble or kelp bed or piece of coral—felt most likely to be the first step.
That’s just like getting past writer’s block, I thought.
Frozen Brain
There’s a great radio program produced in Austin called “Two Guys on Your Head” where Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke chat about how our brain works. Their episode on writer’s block talks about how the fear of our writing not measuring up combined with the impact of stress on our cognitive functioning can paralyze us.
My attempt of a blue tang like Dory finding its way out of writer’s block. My illustration, just like my writing, is an evolving skill. There is nothing wrong with a first draft that needs improvement.
It’s that impossible expectation that we writers put on ourselves that every word we put down from the get-go has to string together perfectly to a fantastic draft of a book, one that needs little revision or editing. But that’s not how excellent writing comes into existence. Every book starts with a very rough draft that the author hopes few people see.
So often we get stuck because we’re tired—it’s late at night or we’ve simply been writing longer than our brain has energy for—or because we’re stressed. And we berate ourselves for not being able to function to the level we know we’re capable of, which makes coming up with ideas of what to write next incredibly difficult. And we judge every idea we have before we have a chance to write it down and see where it leads. We’re trying to come up with the full path back to the aquarium in the moment. Soon, we just can’t think of anything.
Give Yourself a Break
Instead, we need to take a break—take a breath, take a walk, take a snooze—and then do like Dory and simplify what we’ve asking of ourselves. Not the perfect line that seamlessly lets the rest of the story effortlessly unspool. Just one next line. Maybe a few next words to prompt us. Because here’s the secret that Dory herself didn’t even know to share. It doesn’t matter if we pick the wrong pebble or kelp bed to get started. One step in a slightly meandering direction is not a problem, both in paths home and in writing. There is more than one way to get anywhere. So just see where each step, each sentence, takes you.
*Featured image photographer credit: Josh Brewster Photography