In my day job, I’m a professional web developer. I manage servers and build and support websites. As such, you might wonder why this site is so minimal. It’s because I do this site for fun, and the point is the words, not the look. It’s functional.
I never get “writer’s block” at work when I’m writing code or writing emails. There’s a task, and I do it. But in addition to work, and this site, I also run budgetguitarist.com. And then there’s the YouTube channels for both this site and the other. I’m certainly not posting videos all the time – right now I’m only averaging two a month, because my life is so busy.
But my writer’s block is happening with my own music. I’ve got half an album recorded and I need to write 5 more songs. And whenever I sit down to compose, do you know what comes out? Mediocrity. And that’s not good enough.
A wise man once said that inspiration aka “the muse” is more likely to visit you if it finds you trying to create. I believe it’s true. But what do you do when you try and you get iffy results and you try more and you get more iffy results?
This is the part where, as a “columnist,” I share some hack or trick or witty saying that will help you deal with writer’s block (other than the one in the last paragraph), but I don’t have an answer. I’ve always worried that “the well would one day dry up,” but now I realize that’s not the danger. I can always write songs. I just can’t seem to write any good ones lately.
So do I give up? No. If what you’re doing isn’t working, do something different. I’ve been trying to write a cool chord progression so that I could write a cool melody for it, but it’s not working. So instead I’m going to start with the lyrics. I’ll write a short story, and then convert it into a lyric, and then sit at the piano and see what happens.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll try writing on bass or something very different than what I normally do.
So I guess that’d be my advice for writer’s block – change how you do things. It’s worth a shot. And remember… the muse is more likely to visit when it finds you trying.