by Sidney S. Stark
You can undoubtedly feel the liberation in this blog’s title: The UnBlocked! Writer. It’s like a lungful of air. The disruption of the flow of something, whether it’s the movement forward of a football on a playing field or a thought that gets stopped dead in its tracks inhibits us in a frustrating and often harmful way. Removing an obstruction can be life-giving and makes one’s efforts totally worthwhile instead of utterly disappointing. Writers are not the only people who get blocked. Everyone experiences the limiting effects of getting in their own way occasionally. But writers have a way of getting out of the way; they write.
Through the creative process of scripting my grandmother’s memoir I began a fascinating voyage of self-discovery. As I slowly started waking up my long-dormant writer’s neurons, I began to realize I was breaking free of my unacknowledged restraints. As I continue to put the finishing touches on my memoir with the working title of Gifted! I’ve come to realize how freeing the process has been. In fact, I never fully appreciated the person I am today until I started looking for the person I used to be.
When I was little I wanted to be Mark Twain. I even signed my poems and essays with the pen name of Sam Clemens. Sometimes Joel Chandler Harris won out but usually it was Sam. It wasn’t just the fact that I had a traditionally male name myself or that I was a bit of a ‘tom boy’ that had me choosing Clemens over Cinderella. That writer was already living inside me. I tried to keep her captive in solitary confinement my whole adult life but eventually she wanted out. Other memoirists lay claim to exactly the same sense of liberation. The search in the process of writing sets your authentic self free.
This weekly blog will offer excursions into thoughts of my childhood with my mentor/grandmother during the immediate post WWII New York City I lived in, as well as current thoughts on New York (and other things) as we move into the 21st Century. Often other writer friends of mine will contribute their work as well. Professionals from the disciplines of film, and photography will join poets, playwrights, novelists and creative non-fiction writers. They’ll offer their artistic input to tell stories of significance to them and therefore by direct association, to all of us.
I’m fond of collaboration but allergic to competition, and I’m a firm believer in the advice that it’s best to make your rivals your friends. I’d like this blog to present writing that respects both thought and reader with equal honesty; and I hope you’ll judge our offerings to have done just that. I’d love to hear your opinions as well and provide space for comments at the end of each piece. Thanks for joining me today in the bow of this courageous craft. Together we’ll lift our faces to meet the rising wind and shout, we’re off!
Question @You: What technique do you use to get out of your own way? Do you get blocked by the intractability of the barrier or can you always extricate yourself? Tell us how.
*Join me next time for an essay on Mirrors and the art of self-discovery.