Today I was complaining about my writer's block to my therapist, stating that my recent writing had some major issues. Her response:
"You say your writing is disorganized, highly emotional, and lacking meaning...perhaps that is because your current life situation directly reflects that."
Damn. Did my shrink just call me out?
I wonder if my writing has always been a reflection of my life. If so, then why do I attempt fiction? Why not work at non-fiction? Why am I trying to write at all, if all it consists of is an examination of self? Isn't that very self-absorbed of me, or is it some half-handed stab at enlightenment? All I know is the writing isn't going so hot and I am stuck like two teenage lovers with braces.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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3 comments:
Is your shrink being some kind of prat? What the hell?
I'm not sure I'm seeing the issue: I don't think there's anything wrong with writing that reflects an author's life at some level--it's the real meaning of the "write what you know" concept. In fact, I started to write that all writing involves some reflection of the writer's life, but I'm not sure that's true: there's some fairly bad writing out there, for instance, where the writer probably doesn't have a clue or maybe doesn't even care.
Is there a problem with writing that examines the self? I can see where it might be a problem if taken to some overly-narcissistic extreme, but I doubt that's where you are.
If it's any consolation, my own writing has been stuck, too. I'm split between which of two projects to start and avoiding revising/rewriting the NaNoWriMo thing; i.e. I commiserate with the situation. But I also have faith that things will un-jam, possibly if I just sit down and make myself work, possibly if I just pop up blog entries and scribble notes to myself until something unclogs.
Oh, and for whatever it's worth: we all worry about whether our work has meaning: even Kafka did, and his work meant more than most.
You'll be fine, is what I'm trying to say in too many words.
Hey. I'm rooting for you. But you know that. ;)
Thanks, your statement puts much into perspective. I think I'm often too critical of my own work, and perhaps that's why I'm facing the big block now. If I could let go of my hyper-critical tendencies and my expectations of near-perfection, I might actually create again. However, after having spent six years schooling my critical mind, I find it hard to lower those barriers for the creative flow. Maybe that's the mark of a true writer, knowing how to critique one's own work, how to see what is good and what is bad, and still being able to stand back and create prior to enforcing that editorial scrutiny.
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