First of all, I totally understand your response to the last line of that commentary on your work. It would induce panic and shame in me. Keep in mind that you have two books out, though. More than most people can say!
I sometimes think the contemporary version of the block is a fog or impotence (I love the latter as a way of describing) induced by too much stimuli. In short, the internet, our phones, doomscrolling, and so on. Whenever I am blocked like this, it's because there's too much coming in, buzzing around. I can't make my way through. When I am on a good streak of getting to my writing before looking at anything else first, I have an easier time, at least until fear and other feelings set in...
Just wanted to chime in to say that you are not a slow writer, Mason (in my opinion). Now that I'm dipping my toes into writing about a different note-taker every week, I recognize just how much work goes into your work. Your books are super ambitious -- you have to research hundreds of people for each of them. It's almost like each of your books is over 100 mini-books in one. (You probably already know this, but sometimes it's nice to hear it from someone else).
As for being blocked, I'm all about "productive procrastination"--whenever I feel blocked on one project, I'll switch to another. This is the only way I ever get through my grading!
For some people, a "block" is avoidance; for much fewer, it is extreme lack of confidence or fear that they're unable or untalented or some other "un". Instead of the word block, I prefer to think that I'm in a period of gestation in which ideas for a project are growing, feeding on thoughts that came before this idea, and when it reaches full term, it will come forth. Thinking is a huge part of writing a project; that's where our best influences and creativity are born. Some of us need to do a lot of thinking, doodling, fiddling until we are ready to begin with pen on page or fingers to the keyboard.
As for prolific or not, that is sooooo individual. We all know writers who are astonishingly prolific, and many are good, but more are inconsistent or mediocre. Your speed is your speed. It's all good. Onward!
To me a block is a little bit like having a monster in a closet that you're unable to face: you know whatever you're going to face is going to terrify or hurt you. Worst of all, it's going to drain you of all energy and joy.
But the closet is almost always empty except for a mirror, which shows you the monster you need to face.
Oct 3, 2022·edited Oct 4, 2022Liked by Mason Currey
Hey Mason - writing blocks suck. The examples you share are brilliant and very relatable - we are not alone in getting stuck.
My favourite definition from the research is Robert Boice who studied procrastination and blocks in academic writers. In his 1996 book he describes them in the following way:
‘Procrastination has at least two characteristics. It means putting off a difficult, delayable, important task – an act with distant, perhaps doubtful rewards (as in writing) – in favour of something easier, quicker, and less anxiety-provoking (for example, cleaning a desk before writing).’
He says that blocking is often similar: ‘It occurs when we stumble, delay, and panic in response to a demanding responsibility, when we avoid the threatening task by way of nervous slowing of activity, self-conscious narrowing of scope, even immobilisation. Blocking typically occurs when we face public scrutiny (as in a writing block).’
I'm going to email you separately but for now, you are not alone, you are not being judged, public scrutiny can do one. You'll wiggle through, because after all blocks are part of the creative process (apart from perhaps for Ryan Holiday who is an absolute machine!)
This comes at the exact right time for me, for I am, and have been, blocked. I can’t start, though I have multiple ideas. I’m not a writer, I’m a quilter, but I can hardly sit down in my sewing space. I have no answers, no solutions, but am grateful for the reminder that it isn’t just me.
I find that the more prolific a writer or artist becomes, the less compelling their work becomes. Not always. But often. You want to leave them wanting more and that’s what happened with Ryan. It’s good for him to hunger for more but that doesn’t mean you have to produce more to suit him. I think one of the great things about your books are that they are fascinating snippets of people, not lengthy analyses. We hunger for more of that person yet our imagination is stimulated by not knowing all. Strive for excellence in your own estimation, not quantity. Stay on your path. It’s great.
Such an interesting question to describe a block. I love reading about how other artists articulate the feeling to them. To me, it's two-tiered.
I don't have a creative block if I'm reading/seeing/interacting with art that is truly inspiring to me. Most of my creative projects that have been the most powerful are directly correlated to reading a really stellar book at the time that, via literary osmosis, just got to me and put me in a working trance to respond in my own way. Basically, if I'm not able to get into the flow of reading books that challenge and inspire me, I'm kind of doomed. Full disclosure, reading Daily Rituals: Women at Work right now and it's finally getting me out of a months-long slump. :)
The other part of my personal view on a creative block is the endless dance of balancing paid work with unpaid work. If the lightening bolt strikes, as described above, that binary falls away and I'll be working very early in the morning or very late at night and time is of no essence. But daily habits of writing creatively everyday just haven't stuck with me, no matter how much I try.
I think the term "blocked" is used by different people to mean different things. It could be fear plain and simple, it could be perfectionism, it could be stories we're telling ourselves or messages we got from our parents. It could be that we simply need a break, a walk in nature! Or it could be that we need to take Anne Lamott's advice about "shitty first drafts", which I think Joseph Conrad probably could have benefited from, haha. It's also normal to go through a fallow period, which maybe you just shouldn't fight against.
And as someone else mentioned here... you've written two books! That's plenty prolific! I think that fellow was just trying to express how much he likes your books.
Really interesting topic and it talks to me as I suffer from these blocks too. But I found my answer. I have ADHD. I am surprised nobody here talk about it because it is really what it is. You want to be creative but you just can’t. Most of the time the answer regarding to ADHD is that starting to work creates a kind of inconfort and your brain does not want to go in that direction and so it avoids it. Creativity has to do with inconfort and it is difficult to dig into it.
One answer I found was first to create a routine, each day, where your books really helped me. Routines lower the stress of starting. And also creating smaller tasks makes it less difficult to start too. I applied these techniques to my daily projects and I find it less difficult now.
So maybe you could check, and I am sure you already did, on the ADHD side, there are many exercices to help lower these blocks and enjoy more your creative life :)
Thanks for that great newsletter and your books :)
Omg you say you are "particularly interested in people who have an idea for a project, and have the time/resources they need to begin, but somehow just can’t seem to do it." You are interested in me, then, as I have a brilliant idea, notes, time, space, but SOMEHOW can't seem to do it. What is this paralysis? This is not a dress rehearsal, hadn't I better get busy?! Blame it on Blocktober, for now anyway. What will I do in November? Love the newsletter, it's a perfect distraction from the actual work I should be doing. No shortage of those, haha!
I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert on her famous TED Talk about the elusive creative genius. The problem of creativity’s block seems to be related with the “to have a genius” versus “to be a genius” dilema. It’s worth it to check it out.
Reading this feels like as if you were talking TO me. Just a question that suddenly popped up: how do you know whether this is 'merely' a block or a plain laziness after all? (because I often use — and even feel — both interchangebly, I don't know what to do)
Congratulations on your 100th newsletter, Mason! That’s amazing! 🙌🎉 Also, regarding Holliday’s comment about you and your books: keep what serves you and discard the rest. Also, quality over quantity. You are the writer that you are. You’ve created two great books that I and so many others enjoyed and found helpful. Faster and more prolific is not better. Embrace who you are and enjoy the path!
Oct 4, 2022·edited Oct 5, 2022Liked by Mason Currey
The Reviewer said this: "I just wish Mason could be more prolific like some of the artists he profiles!"
I just had to comment on this: what an awful, ignorant, arrogant, dismissive and condescending remark this is, Mason, and you should not spend a single second of your precious time thinking any more about this comment.
First of all, you ARE PROLIFIC in your own choice of creative expression, which is biography of the artistic process. I have both your books and, frankly, they have been incredibly comforting and helpful to me during many low, and very low, points in my life.
Biography is a literary art just like prose or poetry, and you have clearly put in the time and attention to master this literary art. You are not just reprinting Wikipedia blurbs in your books, you have absorbed an incredible amount of factual information and present it to us, your readers, in a most meaningful and captivating narrative. And for your books, I am most grateful.
Your books are supremely valuable to me. And as to that Reviewer who trivialized your creative efforts, the loss of wholly his.
Being old has its benefits: I published my debut novel some months before my 60th birthday, having done many other unrelated endeavors during the previous decades of my life.
I will never be a Louise Erdrich, who publishes a brilliant book each year, but I accept that.
Practice of the writing craft is one of the greatest pleasures of the art.
First of all, I totally understand your response to the last line of that commentary on your work. It would induce panic and shame in me. Keep in mind that you have two books out, though. More than most people can say!
I sometimes think the contemporary version of the block is a fog or impotence (I love the latter as a way of describing) induced by too much stimuli. In short, the internet, our phones, doomscrolling, and so on. Whenever I am blocked like this, it's because there's too much coming in, buzzing around. I can't make my way through. When I am on a good streak of getting to my writing before looking at anything else first, I have an easier time, at least until fear and other feelings set in...
Just wanted to chime in to say that you are not a slow writer, Mason (in my opinion). Now that I'm dipping my toes into writing about a different note-taker every week, I recognize just how much work goes into your work. Your books are super ambitious -- you have to research hundreds of people for each of them. It's almost like each of your books is over 100 mini-books in one. (You probably already know this, but sometimes it's nice to hear it from someone else).
As for being blocked, I'm all about "productive procrastination"--whenever I feel blocked on one project, I'll switch to another. This is the only way I ever get through my grading!
For some people, a "block" is avoidance; for much fewer, it is extreme lack of confidence or fear that they're unable or untalented or some other "un". Instead of the word block, I prefer to think that I'm in a period of gestation in which ideas for a project are growing, feeding on thoughts that came before this idea, and when it reaches full term, it will come forth. Thinking is a huge part of writing a project; that's where our best influences and creativity are born. Some of us need to do a lot of thinking, doodling, fiddling until we are ready to begin with pen on page or fingers to the keyboard.
As for prolific or not, that is sooooo individual. We all know writers who are astonishingly prolific, and many are good, but more are inconsistent or mediocre. Your speed is your speed. It's all good. Onward!
To me a block is a little bit like having a monster in a closet that you're unable to face: you know whatever you're going to face is going to terrify or hurt you. Worst of all, it's going to drain you of all energy and joy.
But the closet is almost always empty except for a mirror, which shows you the monster you need to face.
Hey Mason - writing blocks suck. The examples you share are brilliant and very relatable - we are not alone in getting stuck.
My favourite definition from the research is Robert Boice who studied procrastination and blocks in academic writers. In his 1996 book he describes them in the following way:
‘Procrastination has at least two characteristics. It means putting off a difficult, delayable, important task – an act with distant, perhaps doubtful rewards (as in writing) – in favour of something easier, quicker, and less anxiety-provoking (for example, cleaning a desk before writing).’
He says that blocking is often similar: ‘It occurs when we stumble, delay, and panic in response to a demanding responsibility, when we avoid the threatening task by way of nervous slowing of activity, self-conscious narrowing of scope, even immobilisation. Blocking typically occurs when we face public scrutiny (as in a writing block).’
I'm going to email you separately but for now, you are not alone, you are not being judged, public scrutiny can do one. You'll wiggle through, because after all blocks are part of the creative process (apart from perhaps for Ryan Holiday who is an absolute machine!)
This comes at the exact right time for me, for I am, and have been, blocked. I can’t start, though I have multiple ideas. I’m not a writer, I’m a quilter, but I can hardly sit down in my sewing space. I have no answers, no solutions, but am grateful for the reminder that it isn’t just me.
I find that the more prolific a writer or artist becomes, the less compelling their work becomes. Not always. But often. You want to leave them wanting more and that’s what happened with Ryan. It’s good for him to hunger for more but that doesn’t mean you have to produce more to suit him. I think one of the great things about your books are that they are fascinating snippets of people, not lengthy analyses. We hunger for more of that person yet our imagination is stimulated by not knowing all. Strive for excellence in your own estimation, not quantity. Stay on your path. It’s great.
Such an interesting question to describe a block. I love reading about how other artists articulate the feeling to them. To me, it's two-tiered.
I don't have a creative block if I'm reading/seeing/interacting with art that is truly inspiring to me. Most of my creative projects that have been the most powerful are directly correlated to reading a really stellar book at the time that, via literary osmosis, just got to me and put me in a working trance to respond in my own way. Basically, if I'm not able to get into the flow of reading books that challenge and inspire me, I'm kind of doomed. Full disclosure, reading Daily Rituals: Women at Work right now and it's finally getting me out of a months-long slump. :)
The other part of my personal view on a creative block is the endless dance of balancing paid work with unpaid work. If the lightening bolt strikes, as described above, that binary falls away and I'll be working very early in the morning or very late at night and time is of no essence. But daily habits of writing creatively everyday just haven't stuck with me, no matter how much I try.
I think the term "blocked" is used by different people to mean different things. It could be fear plain and simple, it could be perfectionism, it could be stories we're telling ourselves or messages we got from our parents. It could be that we simply need a break, a walk in nature! Or it could be that we need to take Anne Lamott's advice about "shitty first drafts", which I think Joseph Conrad probably could have benefited from, haha. It's also normal to go through a fallow period, which maybe you just shouldn't fight against.
And as someone else mentioned here... you've written two books! That's plenty prolific! I think that fellow was just trying to express how much he likes your books.
Really interesting topic and it talks to me as I suffer from these blocks too. But I found my answer. I have ADHD. I am surprised nobody here talk about it because it is really what it is. You want to be creative but you just can’t. Most of the time the answer regarding to ADHD is that starting to work creates a kind of inconfort and your brain does not want to go in that direction and so it avoids it. Creativity has to do with inconfort and it is difficult to dig into it.
One answer I found was first to create a routine, each day, where your books really helped me. Routines lower the stress of starting. And also creating smaller tasks makes it less difficult to start too. I applied these techniques to my daily projects and I find it less difficult now.
So maybe you could check, and I am sure you already did, on the ADHD side, there are many exercices to help lower these blocks and enjoy more your creative life :)
Thanks for that great newsletter and your books :)
Omg you say you are "particularly interested in people who have an idea for a project, and have the time/resources they need to begin, but somehow just can’t seem to do it." You are interested in me, then, as I have a brilliant idea, notes, time, space, but SOMEHOW can't seem to do it. What is this paralysis? This is not a dress rehearsal, hadn't I better get busy?! Blame it on Blocktober, for now anyway. What will I do in November? Love the newsletter, it's a perfect distraction from the actual work I should be doing. No shortage of those, haha!
I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert on her famous TED Talk about the elusive creative genius. The problem of creativity’s block seems to be related with the “to have a genius” versus “to be a genius” dilema. It’s worth it to check it out.
Idea for an upper tier of Subtle Maneuvers newsletter patronage: mugs that say "overcaffeinated, underconfident, frustrated but hopeful."
I love this series! Happy #blocktober. Can't wait to read the next parts.
Reading this feels like as if you were talking TO me. Just a question that suddenly popped up: how do you know whether this is 'merely' a block or a plain laziness after all? (because I often use — and even feel — both interchangebly, I don't know what to do)
Congratulations on your 100th newsletter, Mason! That’s amazing! 🙌🎉 Also, regarding Holliday’s comment about you and your books: keep what serves you and discard the rest. Also, quality over quantity. You are the writer that you are. You’ve created two great books that I and so many others enjoyed and found helpful. Faster and more prolific is not better. Embrace who you are and enjoy the path!
The Reviewer said this: "I just wish Mason could be more prolific like some of the artists he profiles!"
I just had to comment on this: what an awful, ignorant, arrogant, dismissive and condescending remark this is, Mason, and you should not spend a single second of your precious time thinking any more about this comment.
First of all, you ARE PROLIFIC in your own choice of creative expression, which is biography of the artistic process. I have both your books and, frankly, they have been incredibly comforting and helpful to me during many low, and very low, points in my life.
Biography is a literary art just like prose or poetry, and you have clearly put in the time and attention to master this literary art. You are not just reprinting Wikipedia blurbs in your books, you have absorbed an incredible amount of factual information and present it to us, your readers, in a most meaningful and captivating narrative. And for your books, I am most grateful.
Your books are supremely valuable to me. And as to that Reviewer who trivialized your creative efforts, the loss of wholly his.
Being old has its benefits: I published my debut novel some months before my 60th birthday, having done many other unrelated endeavors during the previous decades of my life.
I will never be a Louise Erdrich, who publishes a brilliant book each year, but I accept that.
Practice of the writing craft is one of the greatest pleasures of the art.