Dark Nights of the Soul

Cheryl Fassett ♦ August 26, 2015 ♦ 2 Comments

Even the most prolific writers out there must encounter the lulls in productivity, right? Surely, it is not just a new writer phenomenon.

It seems that the warm, sunny days of summer are not the elixir I needed. Finishing my last certification for work would not clear my desk and allow my brain to focus on the good stuff. Turns out, I truly can waste many hours surfing the net and watching mindless television instead of writing.

The worst part about the slump is that I don’t even have the energy and urge to do anything else creative either. At least if I was knitting or quilting or even planning a quilt, I wouldn’t feel so slug-like. But instead this has been the summer of virtually no creative output from yours truly!

I do hear that these things happen. Some people refer to it as a block. I don’t want to call it that because it makes it seem like such a solid thing to overcome. More like I am wallowing in an uninspired pit. Yes, that describes it well.

So how do you crawl out of this pit when you find yourself mired down in the muck?

I have been asking myself this for weeks now.

I have heard many remedies that I need to work up some energy to try –

Take a walk.
Read a book.
Do something else.
Journal.

All those ideas might work, but they all seem like they may take a bit of a kick in the butt.

I think the best advise I have heard was to just own it. Own your process. Understand that you are human and cannot possibly crank out creativity like a machine! Forgive yourself for this. And let yourself wallow a bit. Stretch out and let yourself sink right down into the mud and wallow. When you are good and sick of yourself, you will find your way out, one step at a time.

I think when we admit we are human and forgive ourselves for our little funk, we may actually come to enjoy the occasional wallow.