Editorial
Front Page - Friday, November 5, 2010
I Swear...
Writer's block visited
Vic Fleming
At Merlin Mann’s “43 Folders” Web site, I found a little anecdote that the host thought was apropos of writer’s block:
It seems that, during the filming of “Marathon Man,” Dustin Hoffman showed up one day looking like death warmed over, to borrow a phrase. Beyond his appearance, he was clearly exhausted, to the point of being and practically delirious.
When asked about the obvious, Hoffman allowed as how, in the scenes that they were about to shoot, his character will have been awake for a day or more. Thus, he wanted to make sure that he, too, was totally spent.
Hoffman’s distinguished costar, Sir Laurence Olivier is said to have shaken his head and said, “Oh, Dusty, why don’t you just try acting?”
And how, some of you may be asking, is this relevant to writer’s block?
Others of you may be wondering wherefore the topic of writer’s block is on the table today, so to speak.
As a lawyer who was recently in front of me recently said, “I’ll connect at all up before too long.”
Definitionally speaking, writer’s block is a condition in which someone who is supposed, or expected, to produce literature is unable to come up with anything new.
For some who have reported being afflicted by it, it has been a temporary stumbling block along the way. For others, it has been a career breaker.
Might it have been writer’s block that prevented Harper Lee from ever producing a manuscript after the success of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” her first and only novel?
In Orwell’s novel “Keep The Aspidistra Flying,” his protagonist, Gordon Comstock, is writing an epic poem about a day in London. He struggles mightily, but in vain. “It was too big for him ….”
At “43 Folders,” a six-year old post was titled “Hack your way out of writer’s block.” Many suggestions were offered, including these:
“Talk to a monkey – Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal or cardboard cutout.
“Do something important that’s very easy – Is there a small part of your project you could ?nish quickly that would move things forward?
“Try freewriting – Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of time – say, 10 minutes to start. Don’t stop, no matter what. Cover the monitor with a manila folder if you have to. Keep writing, even if you know what you’re typing is gibberish, full of misspellings, and grammatically psychopathic. Get your hand moving and your brain will think it’s writing. Which it is. See?
“Take a walk – Get out of your writing brain for 10 minutes. Think about bunnies. Breathe.
“Take a shower; change clothes – Give yourself a truly clean start.”
I’ll have more to say on this subject later. But first, I need to take a shower and change clothes. Maybe, also, take a walk.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.
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