by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
Last month I wrote about Writers Block not being real; that it’s simply an excuse not to write. But I also said some of you have had writers block where it wasn’t an excuse.
You’ve sat at your keyboard and nothing came—not for a few hours or a few days, but for weeks—and you have no idea why the condition came and why it left.
I said that’s valid and that next time I’d suggest ideas on dealing with the affliction. Okay. Next time is here. Let’s go:
I first heard this answer to true Writers Block from Cecil Murphey, one of my early writing mentors. In essence Cec said writers block comes from our reluctance to get gut level authentic.
Put another way, the block comes when you bump up against that part of you that says to yourself, “Uh, no. Stop. Can’t let you go that deep. It’s getting too personal, too close and I don’t share that part of me with anyone. Even you.”
It’s too raw. Too painful. Too disruptive.
I get it. I’ve been there. It’s a door I’m often terrified of opening. But—you know what’s coming next, don’t you?—that’s where the gold is. The gold that will buy your freedom from those devastating moments of your past and bring healing. And it’s the gold that will pave the yellow brick road that will lead others to healing.
I heard Lady Gaga say something last year that’s stuck with me: “You have to go to that broken place of your heart to write songs. It’s like open-heart surgery, making music. Every time it’s invasive.”
It’s the same thing for us, friends.
Blocked? Be willing to go to the broken places. Be willing to have open-heart surgery. Make peace with the fact it will be invasive.
And through that process you will bring other’s your gold. We need it.
What if You Woke up One Morning and the Darkest Parts of Yourself Were Gone?
Toren Daniels vanished eight months back, and his wife and kids have moved on—with more than a little relief. Toren was a good man but carried a raging temper that often exploded without warning. So when he shows up on their doorstep out of the blue, they’re shocked to see him alive. But more shocked to see he’s changed. Radically.
His anger is gone. He’s oddly patient. Kind. Fun. The man he always wanted to be. Toren has no clue where he’s been but knows he’s been utterly transformed. He focuses on three things: Finding out where he’s been. Finding out how it happened. And winning back his family.
But then shards of his old self start to rise from deep inside—like the man kicked out of the NFL for his fury—and Toren must face the supreme battle of his life.
In this fresh take on the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, James L. Rubart explores the war between the good and evil within each of us—and one man’s only chance to overcome the greatest divide of the soul.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish his stories. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY and RT Book Reviews award winning author of nine novels, a speaker, branding expert, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington. More at jamesLrubart.com