Anne Tyler Lord

The Writer’s Life: Getting Stuck & Writer’s Block

War in Resolution Galaxy

The #writerlbsOff community will continue, but today is the final episode of War in Resolution Galaxy. To read from the beginning, start at Episode 1.

The Commander’s Final message to the EVOLVE Empire warriors special forces division:

The War in Resolution Galaxy is getting harder now. Look out the window at all the warships that have been destroyed. Thousands of warriors have succumbed to the power of Status Quo and his STASIS Republic fighters. Their Resolutions failed and they have given up.

This is your final day of training. Today, I will reveal the most important secret of the EVOLVE Empire warrior who is part of the special forces division.

The secret is your passion.

You must discover, clarify and pursue your passion. If you don’t, the Force will never stay with you. It is your only protection against mediocrity and being possessed by mindless habits and distractions.

In order to manifest your passion, your secret weapons are intuition, mindfulness, flexibility, and adaptability. These secret weapons allow you to feel and hear your passion, and be able to follow your passion wherever it leads.

Don’t Get Stuck in the STASIS Republic

You may be shocked to find out that your most secret mission is to live undercover in the (homeostasis) STASIS Republic. There are phases and cycles to manifesting your passion. The talent of the (evolution) EVOLVE Empire special forces warriors is that we know how to live undetected in both worlds.

We have learned the benefits of rest, relaxation, play, and not changing anything when it is needed. When we go undercover in the STASIS Republic, we do so mindfully and know when it is time to be transported back to the EVOLVE Empire for more change.  Do not get too comfortable in the STASIS Republic, or habits of disintegration will consume you and you will be unable to leave. At that point, passion wanes and the Force is much harder to regenerate.

Dangers of Too Much Change in EVOLVE Empire

After your undercover mission in the STASIS Republic, your intuition will tell you when it is time to come back to the EVOLVE Empire and initiate more changes in your life. We have learned that slow changes that sink deeply into your being are the way to approach lifelong change.

If you seek too much change you run the risk of becoming unfocused, erratic and can become addicted to stimulation, such as TV, music, any of your favorite addictive activities, even Twitter. You won’t be able to focus.You will become a stimulation junkie and get blasted by the Neganator, which will slime you with negative feedback and force you back into mediocre range.

Exercise Caution when Transporting

You passion manifests as alive focused energy, over-stimulation becomes dead, dull distraction. There is another time when distractions can overcome you.

When you are in the transporter between the STASIS Republic and the EVOLVE Empire, you must be aware of the danger of distractions. If you don’t focus, your passion and goals will become unclear and you will get off-kilter. You may disintegrate into pieces spraying across the galaxy.

Be mindful of your position and what you are feeling.  Listen to your intuition and it will guide you when movement is needed. Your intuition is the voice of your passion.  You may not always understand the direction your passion is leading you, but you must remain strong enough to follow. Every time you listen and obey your intuition, the Force grows stronger. Only after obeying your passion will you truly be EVOLVERS.

Congratulations!

We have created a beautiful new world here in Resolution Galaxy. We are creating amazing new worlds within ourselves and across our galaxy. Let’s celebrate our successes. Darwin Vader will be here to personally congratulate you and give your certificates of completion. Good luck on your next mission and continue to be in communication with your division each Friday!

More About Getting Stuck & Writer’s Block

The Reason You’re Stuck (and the one best way to avoid the six ways that keep you stuck) by Seth Godin on Zen Habits: Simple Productivity. This is an excellent article about recognizing the resistance in our lives that keeps us from pursuing our important work.

4 Simple Principles of Getting to Completion, by Leo Babauta at Zenhabits: Simple Productivity.

Creative Block #1 -” I’m Not Creative.” This article is part of the Break Through Your Creative Blocks series by Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action (tweeted by Nishi @CafeNirvana). There are some good hints and tips in these articles about various problems that writer’s experience.

Friday Check-In

Happy Friday #WriterlbsOff community. It is time for the Friday check-in on Twitter or in the comments below. I hope you had a good week, but if not, let us know that too. We are all here for each other and I greatly appreciate our supportive community. Follow the comments and write to each other – it’s just more fun as a conversation!

Be prepared to celebrate our February end of the month party next Sunday, February 28th. I can’t believe another month is already over! That means we are almost halfway there!

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Comments

11 responses to “The Writer’s Life: Getting Stuck & Writer’s Block”

  1. Shon Bacon

    Well, I’ve decided that I’m not going to force myself to write; it will come when it will. Right now, my doctoral work has to take top priority in my life, so most of my writing will be of the academic variety. In terms of big projects, I will work on two a year (if feasible), a screenplay during ScriptFrenzy (in April) and a novel during NaNoWriMo. If I get inspired in between those times, then I’ll jump in and write. If not, well, I won’t beat myself up over that. As far as exercising, I got a bit lax this week. Didn’t work out every day, but I spent a great deal of time moving and walking any and everywhere, so that counts for something!

    1. Anne Tyler Lord

      Hi Shon,

      Glad to see you this week! I see you are very busy in grad school! I can see why you don’t have extra time to write other things. I am shocked you are able to get in ScriptFrnzy and NaNoWriMo while in college!!

      Yes, all walking counts! And, you are lucky to live where it is possible in warmth!

  2. Kevin

    Hi Anne, I’m new to this site, so I’m still getting oriented; in case Godin and others don’t reference him, I feel compelled to bring this up, since this idea of resistance has never been so brilliantly and completely conveyed to me than by “The Art of War: Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles” from the author Steven Pressfield (Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War). As a writer i would say it’s awoken more insight and focused determination than I’d like to admit. Cheers for the post and best of luck!

    1. Anne Tyler Lord

      Thanks Kevin, that book looks very interesting, will have to check it out!

  3. Anne Tyler Lord

    Time for my update. I feel like I just did this. I think my week was a blur. First there were days of birthday parties and cleaning, then sick child at home all week. I had to recover from tiredness, pain and a few toxic blasts of chemicals. But I have been hanging in there with no deep crashes. Not sure why, but just glad the energy is holding up so far.

    I have really enjoyed brainstorming and planning new stories and series to write, both fiction and memoir. I always have moments of panic when there are no ideas coming. Now I will just have to see if they go anywhere.

    I continue to re-evaluate where my energy goes and what projects I really want to pursue.

    I am very thankful for all the #writerlbsOff and #FridayFlash community members who keep me going with writing, blogging & connecting with great friends. You have all been such a great motivating force in my life!

  4. George Angus

    Hi Anne,

    I came her after the Twitter-follow (Thanks!)

    So who do I see here when I come to read your site? Two luscious peeps! Hi Laura! Hi Marisa!

    Ok, now to the post. Well, you certainly pegged the unique-o-meter! I love it. Great info that I need to bookmark and refer to from time to time.

    Looking forward to subscribing and coming back!

    Cheers

    George

    1. Anne Tyler Lord

      Hi George,

      It is nice to meet you. I followed you after I saw Laura Tweet you. I was exploring your site and really like all the great posts. I will be following you too.

      Thanks!

  5. Marisa Birns

    Love the chapters! And looking forward to reading the links you’ve provided tonight.

    I went walking for exercise every day this week so am feeling the energy better. This, in turn, makes me stop and ask myself if I “really want to eat that ice cream tonight”.

    Sometimes the answer is YES!

    But enough days go by where I say, “No.”

    1. Anne Tyler Lord

      Hi Marisa,

      I see the nightly ice cream is still working on you. What are your favorite flavors? I don’t crave ice cream until it gets warm out.

      You are just lucky you have places to walk with all the snow you got. Did it melt already? We still have piles and piles.

  6. Laura Eno

    You’ve written such imaginative chapters!

    I’ve been stuck in STASIS this week. LOL! Oh well, at least I didn’t gain anything. This friday check-in has been instrumental in keeping me accountable. Thank you, Anne!

    1. Anne Tyler Lord

      Hi Laura,

      Sometimes STASIS is good. I never wrote about the “other” places besides STASIS and EVOLVE, but they are downright uncomfortable and difficult. It is those black holes that you don’t see coming. The places in other galaxies we don’t want to visit. So STASIS is much preferred as a place to hang out when we need a rest and need to hold our life stable.

      I’m glad the check-in is a motivator. It has definitely helped me too.

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