I live writers block… i think it comes from some deep place of self hate as I noticed that when I get some rather weird feedback I tend to stop. I once wrote a story about a young girl getting molested by an adult as part of a series of reflections on things that are not part of the beautiful like I want to pretend believe exists.
I had a writerly friend read it and the feedback I got was that it was “too porny”, which was the last thing in my mind that I was trying to go after. That comment sent me in to a tailspin. I haven’t even revisited that project, mainly for shame of trying to describe what it is like to have an adult sexually molest a young child.
Yes, this is indeed heavy stuff, and some of the most powerful stories that I have read will often tell stories like these. It was a tough experience to even write, it was intense in a way writing has never been for me before. I was emotionally drained, physically exhausted, I was an emotional mess… but I went through it and wrote it.
Since then, it has been a year with relatively no writing for me… other than a woeful trudge through navigating my cancer diagnosis and trying to make sense of it.
But that experience is still in my mind, not the critique mind you, but how I felt writing that story. I think I have only let my writing be more like journaling because opinion is safe.
I think that for me, writers block is more about resolving some issues than a true inability to write. Those issues can be any variety of issues… from personal to literary.
So I love this prompt, and reading what everyone else wrote… I may have to go get some vodka as one person suggested.
I won’t hat tip another participant post, this post touches on some serious themes and they may not want to get associated with it.