Writer's Block | Teen Ink

Writer's Block

July 20, 2015
By justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
10 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You can't make great stuff until you've made good stuff, you can't make good stuff until you make alright stuff, and you can't make alright stuff until you've made pretty bad stuff." - P.J. Liguori


I sat at my desk, feeling the stillness and silence of the house around me.  Defeated, I pressed my palms against my forehead and sighed.  Write something, she said.  Anything, and I'll read it.  At the time, I thought it was a good idea, that it would force me to be creative and use the talent I had.  Now, hours later, surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper and plagued by the half-formed ideas in my mind, all I could think was, what talent?  I couldn't do this, I wasn't creative.  Sure, I had a small talent for writing but all I really felt I could do was essays, school stuff.  I was no good at making up stories, and even if I was, no one would want to hear them anyway.  Similar thoughts of doubt swirled through my mind, forcing me to put down my pen and contemplate the inevitability of my failure. 
You've got no ideas, no material. True.  In creative writing the most important rule is to write what you know.  Write about your feelings, your life, your dreams, because that's what you know best, what's easiest to describe.  But my feelings and dreams were too personal, too private, or too embarrassing to say out loud.  And my life, well... I could count on one hand the number of risks I had taken during my sixteen years, and none of those resulted in anything worthy of being put down on paper.  Not only did the phrase, “write what you know” leave me completely devoid of subject matter, it also left me to contemplate the numerous years of life I'd lived and the comparably little I had to show for them.  My life was hopelessly boring and anticlimactic, and, as a result, my writing was nonexistent. 
Even if you did come up with something, it wouldn't be original.  Also true.  Whenever I did manage to formulate an idea that I deemed halfway decent, it was immediately dismissed for being too similar to this, too reminiscent of that.  I felt that every story, every plot, every character in existence was something of a cliché.  To a certain extent, everything's been done before, so why should I, with my meager talent, attempt something that's been done thousands of times by people far more capable than I will ever be?  I felt, through some paradox marred by self-doubt and insecurity, that I was above rewriting ages-old clichés and yet completely unworthy of doing so due to mu utter lack of greatness compared to those who came before me.  In short, I felt that I could never come up with any independent, original work of which I could truly be proud, so there was no point in trying.
What's the use?  It's not like writing a simple little story is going to change anything.  It's not going to make me a better writer, and it's not going to give me any ideas for writing in the future.  And it's certainly not going to give my seemingly dormant, unproductive life any direction or meaning.  Is it?  I guess it comes down to this: I as a person am just as conflicted and confused and lost as my writing.  I have no idea what form my prose or my life will take.  But I don't just stay locked away, editing and improving and perfecting myself until I produce a version of me that is suitable to show to the world, do I?  Of course not.  I do what I have to do to learn who I am, how I want to live my life, and what I want to do.  I make mistakes and I fail, but I pick myself back up again, and all I really have to do is try.


The author's comments:

After having a bit of an existential crisis to my best friend about how much wasted potential I have, she asked me to write her something and this was the result.  This doesn't really fit into a category here as it's basically my inner monologue on paper, but I hope you like it and I really hope you relate to it!


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This article has 8 comments.


on Sep. 13 2015 at 2:15 pm
justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
10 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You can't make great stuff until you've made good stuff, you can't make good stuff until you make alright stuff, and you can't make alright stuff until you've made pretty bad stuff." - P.J. Liguori

I found it and it's great! I liked and commented, thank you so much for telling me about it :)

on Sep. 10 2015 at 6:07 am
my-King-breathes-stars BRONZE, Elizabethtown, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 20 comments
Well, I can't say I've submitted the thing I wrote about writer's block yet, although I keep meaning to do that for you, but I finally did submit a poem I wrote a couple of months ago, and I'd LOVE it if you read it & liked or commented!! It's called Kentucky Summer, I'm not sure if you can search it or if you need the link or what.....? I don't know how to put the link on here. So hopefully you can search it. Haha

on Aug. 10 2015 at 12:36 pm
justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
10 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You can't make great stuff until you've made good stuff, you can't make good stuff until you make alright stuff, and you can't make alright stuff until you've made pretty bad stuff." - P.J. Liguori

Thank you so so so much, I'll be waiting for yours as well @That_Writer_Girl !!

on Aug. 10 2015 at 9:32 am
That_Writer_Girl BRONZE, White Plains, New York
2 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.&rdquo; <br /> ― Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls <br /> <br /> &ldquo;Here&#039;s what I think,&quot; I say and my voice is stronger and thoughts are coming, thoughts that trickle into my noise like whispers of truth. &quot;I think maybe everybody falls,&quot; I say. &quot;I think maybe we all do. And I don&#039;t think that&#039;s the asking.&quot; <br /> I pull on her arms gently to make sure she&#039;s listening.<br /> &quot;I think the asking is whether we get back up again.&rdquo; <br /> ― Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go

@justmyexistentialthoughts , I have to disagree with you on something. You seem to think you're just an average writer, but I have to tell you that you're so much more. You have a lot of talent. You have a beautiful way of writing, and it means a lot to me that someone with your talent would comment on MY work that I have talent. I'll be waiting for your next story/article...

on Jul. 25 2015 at 11:48 am
justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
10 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;You can&#039;t make great stuff until you&#039;ve made good stuff, you can&#039;t make good stuff until you make alright stuff, and you can&#039;t make alright stuff until you&#039;ve made pretty bad stuff.&quot; - P.J. Liguori

@SH333 Thank you so so much!! I'd love to read what you've written if you decide to submit it! :)

on Jul. 25 2015 at 4:37 am
my-King-breathes-stars BRONZE, Elizabethtown, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 20 comments
By the way, I've also writen something called "Writes Block"... Hopefully I eventually get around to submitting it on here, and maybe you can read it...

on Jul. 25 2015 at 4:34 am
my-King-breathes-stars BRONZE, Elizabethtown, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 20 comments
You asked for comments. So I'll try to help you out;) First of all, I can completely relate to the feeling you're portraying here... But I've also now written multiple short stories that my friends have loved (although I haven't actually submitted any of them on this website yet) So that means even if you can't seem to come up with anything now, you might wake up in the middle of the night or something with an awesome idea. Just keep trying. You're a really good writer. This article thing was interesting to read:)

on Jul. 24 2015 at 8:42 pm
justmyexistentialthoughts GOLD, Cumberland, Rhode Island
10 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;You can&#039;t make great stuff until you&#039;ve made good stuff, you can&#039;t make good stuff until you make alright stuff, and you can&#039;t make alright stuff until you&#039;ve made pretty bad stuff.&quot; - P.J. Liguori

Thank you for reading!! Please like/comment/rate as it really helps me out! :)