Everyone talks about the five stages of grief but I decided to come up with the five stages of writer's grief over losing one's muse (writer's block). Here they are.
Denial
No, this is not happening to me. I have to calm down. My muse has not left me. She is just taking a brief break. I know she will be back soon, I can feel it. I will be writing again in no time at all.
Anger
I can't believe it, she left me! How can she do this to me! How can she feel she can walk away from me anytime she pleases! This is not right, no sir, you don't do this to a writer, especially to one as devoted as I am. You have to come back. You have to come back right now! Do you hear me? That is not a request, that's an order! You are mine and you will do as I say, COME BACK RIGHT NOW........oh how I hate her.
Bargaining
Just one more story please, oh please, I will do anything you say, I will give you anything you want. I will be your slave, you can own my life, but please come back and inspire me just one more time...pleeeaaseeeee....
Depression
I am so sad, I feel so miserable. She will never be back to inspire me again, I am an empty vessel. I am barren. A monkey typing away at a keyboard would probably come up with stories orders of magnitude better than I can think for myself now. I will just crawl into some dark writer's hole and die.
Acceptance
This is the way it is, why fight it? She is never coming back. My destiny is to fade into the obscurity of the mundane and unoriginal. But you know what? I can take it, I know my place. I will join the pack and disappear into the crowd. Hello writer's oblivion, bring it on!
*********************
Of course if your muse happens to be of the opposite sex or even a thing, just make the necessary changes to the pronouns in the text above so it will apply to you.
There are many ways to deal with writer's block. You can find them in the web just by searching for "writer's block" or "dealing with writer's block". However, there is one way to deal with writer's block which many artists employ, but that is seldom mentioned. This is probably because it is so obvious that it hardly seems worth mentioning. I will discuss it in my next blog post.
Denial
No, this is not happening to me. I have to calm down. My muse has not left me. She is just taking a brief break. I know she will be back soon, I can feel it. I will be writing again in no time at all.
Anger
I can't believe it, she left me! How can she do this to me! How can she feel she can walk away from me anytime she pleases! This is not right, no sir, you don't do this to a writer, especially to one as devoted as I am. You have to come back. You have to come back right now! Do you hear me? That is not a request, that's an order! You are mine and you will do as I say, COME BACK RIGHT NOW........oh how I hate her.
Bargaining
Just one more story please, oh please, I will do anything you say, I will give you anything you want. I will be your slave, you can own my life, but please come back and inspire me just one more time...pleeeaaseeeee....
Depression
I am so sad, I feel so miserable. She will never be back to inspire me again, I am an empty vessel. I am barren. A monkey typing away at a keyboard would probably come up with stories orders of magnitude better than I can think for myself now. I will just crawl into some dark writer's hole and die.
Acceptance
This is the way it is, why fight it? She is never coming back. My destiny is to fade into the obscurity of the mundane and unoriginal. But you know what? I can take it, I know my place. I will join the pack and disappear into the crowd. Hello writer's oblivion, bring it on!
*********************
Of course if your muse happens to be of the opposite sex or even a thing, just make the necessary changes to the pronouns in the text above so it will apply to you.
There are many ways to deal with writer's block. You can find them in the web just by searching for "writer's block" or "dealing with writer's block". However, there is one way to deal with writer's block which many artists employ, but that is seldom mentioned. This is probably because it is so obvious that it hardly seems worth mentioning. I will discuss it in my next blog post.
RSS Feed
