Snoopy, the famous dog, of Peanuts renown and brilliant creation of Charles M. Schulz, was famous, among many reasons, in particular for his writer’s block.  Who hasn’t giggled understandingly at the quizzical look on Snoopy’s face wondering what to write after his famous opening line “It was a dark and stormy night …” as he set out upon the writing of his novel perched upon his doghouse roof with his miniature typewriter?

We laugh because we so understand the moment.  It’s a moment that has happened to each of us as we set upon a creative task.  It is a problem of great renown for writers and creators the world over.  For most it’s very real and very much a mystery.  “Why, when I so want to create, does nothing come?  Where is the muse?  On vacation?  How do I get started?

Well, I’m here to tell ya’ that if you’ve suffered from this before, your problems are now over because writer’s block is simply not real.  It’s nothing more than a misunderstanding of the creative process.

A dear friend wrote me just the other day seeking help on just such a thing only he called it “writer’s cramp”.  No matter what you call it, cramp, block or just creative anxiety, it’s all the same big nothing.

Wikipedia states, “Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers. Throughout history writer’s block has been a documented problem.^[1] Professionals who have struggled with the affliction include author F. Scott Fitzgerald^[2] and pop culture cartoonist Charles M. Schulz.^[3]It can manifest as the affected writer viewing their work as inferior or unsuitable, when in fact it could be the opposite. “

Interesting that Charles M. Schulz is one of the famous sufferers.

Causes: Again from Wiki, “Writer’s block may have many or several causes. Some are essentially creative problems that originate within an author’s work itself. A writer may run out of inspiration. The writer may be greatly distracted and feel he or she may have something that needs to be done beforehand. A project may be fundamentally misconceived, or beyond the author’s experience or ability.”

I say, “Bah!”

At one point I had the great pleasure of collaborating with one of America’s most successful and prolific playwrights, Neil Simon.  One day at lunch he explained that he never experienced writer’s block.  When I asked him why, he answered, “Because I get up and write every day.   It always flows because I stay in shape.”

These great words of wisdom have stayed with me and governed my own thinking now for decades and I have added many ideas to this of my own to protect myself from this dread disease.  I must state here that in five decades of writing lyrics, music, blogs, scripts, etc. I have never experienced same.

So I answered my friend:  “Writer’s Block:  I think writing is just like athletics.  I never have it (Writer’s Cramp) because I stay in shape.  I work out every day.   The reason you have Writer’s Cramp is that you don’t write, you don’t exercise your talent.  Start slowly — don’t try to run 10 miles, just walk one.  Warm up to it, but try to stay consistent even with the rest of life’s schedule going on.  Even if you do a half hour a day, at least that’s a warm-up and you’ve started.  Surely you can find a half hour a day for the thing you love so dearly.

If you keep putting it off, then you just keep putting it off.  Start, and you’ve started.  Just don’t bite off more than you can chew at first.  Know thyself!

You ask, “Why is this being blocked from my experience?”  I gotta tell ya’ that the only thing blocking it is you, yourself.  All composition starts with an idea.  Sit down quietly once a day for a week and with pencil and notebook (or whatever) in hand and consider 10 ideas for songs.  Don’t try to write them; just consider them.  Warm up to them.” 

Writer’s Block just means that you haven’t done the proper research.

It’s not some mysterious affliction that’s catching; it’s simply just improper preparation.  A professional novelist doesn’t start with a first line of a novel, like Snoopy,  and then wonder where to go from there just as a professional lyricist doesn’t start with the first line of a song.  They each start with an idea, a title, a concept.  Then they outline it into chapters or verses, then they research the characters, the situations, the time period, the technicalities, the history of the entire world around the subject matter.  They don’t begin to write until, as I like to say somewhat grossly, until they are as full as a tick.  When you finally begin to write, you should be so full of great ideas, know your subject matter so thoroughly and be so excited about getting it on paper, that you can’t wait to start.

At that point there is absolutely no chance of writer’s block.  It is an impossibility.  And if it comes up again in the course of your work, then that means that it’s time to drop pencil and go back and research the subject even more, because you simply don’t know enough about the subject, the moment, the event or the emotion to be creative and original.

Research is the key.  Research is the answer.  And the wondrous thing we have at our fingertips right now is the Internet search engines – Bing, Google, Yahoo – tremendous libraries of research right at our fingertips and immediate.

And we have our imaginations.  Without imagination you may count yourself out when it comes to creativity.  Looking for inspiration?  It’s right there in your imagination.  When I come to an impasse in my musical composition, I’ve learned to take my hands OFF the keyboard and go into my head – my imagination – because there I am not limited by technique, keyboard skills or vocabulary.  Instead, I have the full range of my imagination at my beck and call.

I also said to my friend, “You’re probably in the modus operandi of trying to get something done rather than trying to simply have a rich creative experience.  It’s not about the finishing; it’s about the doing.  Research your ideas so deeply that you fill your mind with the infinite possibilities BEFORE you begin to write.  Be thrilled and excited to begin — not scared and full of trepidations.  Writer’s Cramp comes from fear and the antidote is absolutely preparation.  You can’t prepare unless you begin.  Don’t start by writing.  Start by researching.

When I write a song, I start with a title.  For me there is no other way.  I put the title into a full sentence and then point the song fully in the direction of that hook 100% of the time.  When I write a blog post I start with a title, a concept.  I keep my iPad right next to me to provide me with vocabulary help through an app I use called WordBook XL.  When I write lyrics I work with my rhymer and my thesaurus, but I always write to title and I always take a long time to research the ideas and variations of the concepts before I begin to write.  I outline, I dream, I imagine, I organize – all before I begin to write.  Then when the writing begins, the creativity flows because I’m totally plugged into the concept and the ideas and the paragraphs and the words pour forth many times faster than I can type – the opposite of writer’s block.

I am not afraid to create.  I never wish for the magic to happen because I know that the magic comes from research and proper preparation.

It works for me.  Try it.  It will work for you.

Guaranteed.