Feel the fear and write on anyway
By Orna Ross
”It is human to feel fear, it is inhuman to live from fear.” This comment which I wrote the other night in a group discussion (http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/dialogue-raises-consciousness/discuss/entry/can-we-live-without-fear) has been picked up for further discussion around the blogosphere.
It’s made me think harder about it. I was writing in a general sense but I also feel that this idea is very relevant to writers who are blocked.
“Writers’ Block” occurs when the natural resistance that all creatives always feel keeps us from doing the work we long to do. That resistance arises from a deep place within us that we don’t fully understand. I believe fear is at its heart.
Obvious fears that we know we have: fear that we will fail and, simultaneously, fear that we will succeed. Fear that we are rubbish and fear of what might happen if we are not.
And also other fear that is less tangible. That can be so buried it doesn’t manifest with any symptoms we might recognise as such (churning stomach, anxious thoughts, sweaty palms) but in strange, self-defeating behaviour that we don’t connect with fear at all (drinking too much, snapping at the loved ones, letting squalor rise…).
The only way past this fear is through it.
So if you’re blocked or resisting, try that as a topic for your Free-Writing. “It is human to feel fear, it is inhuman to live from fear.”
And see what emerges.
Oh, and don’t forget to write and let us know.
3 Responses to “Feel the fear and write on anyway”
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March 8th, 2008 at 4:28 am
To learn the technique of automatic writing is another way to tap into the creative magic that flows indefinitely. All we have to do is learn to tap into it.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
yeah liara, that’s all!
does that mean you can do it any time you want? cos I know I sure the hell can’t… And I sure ain’t alone… so don’t say “all”, okay?
November 13th, 2008 at 4:58 am
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