Writers Gotta Write!

There’s a classic number in American musical theater, “Gotta Dance!” that sums up the creative urge.

If you’re creative, and this doesn’t pertain only to writers, singers, dancers, actors, and performers; but to entrepreneurs and to scientists, you don’t have any choice over the matter.

You must do your thing, or you die, at least, emotionally.

If you look back to 1930’s America, gripped as it was by Depression, it was also one of the best times for artists because many were enlisted by the WPA, a governmental agency, and paid to paint huge murals, and to put on theatrical revues, and to otherwise engage in their main creative occupations.

Some incredible monuments, such as the ornate Pantages Theater, in Hollywood, were built during this era by artisans who obviously loved what they were doing.

By receiving regular paychecks this enabled them to eat and do art at the same time, still a rare luxury in our most sophisticated economy.

In the current film, “Stranger than Fiction,” one of the protagonists is in her tenth year suffering from writer’s block. She goes to great lengths to get inspiration, while slowly debilitating through chain smoking.

She is, fundamentally, unsympathetic.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I believe writer’s block is self-induced; it’s a choice. We’re seeking a neurotic satisfaction by incapacitating ourselves. It could be sympathy or merely attention from others.

Perhaps we’re aiming a gun at ourselves instead of at the endless publishers that have rejected our work. The only way we can come to grips with our hostility is by choking off the creative flow.

On some level, I believe we’re looking for outside support, somewhat like the WPA provided financially; for a source to tacitly approve of whatever we produce through whatever medium.

It is akin to the childish wish to be loved and accepted for ourselves, no matter how badly we do in the material universe.

But we would be wise to see this need for what it is: unrealistic and perfectionistic.

Once we have done that, we can get back to writing, if only for ourselves, because, really, we must.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in negotiation, sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

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