WRITER'S BLOCK: LET LONELINESS BE AND WRITE

Last time I was talking about Natalie Goldberg's Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life.  Let me continue with that.

There's a brief chapter on loneliness which it's important to pay attention to.  Too often, we writers let our feelings (usually the negative ones) get in the way of our writing.  That is, we may STOP writing.

Using our feelings is a better idea because it keeps us moving.  Remember there can be no written product without action.  And, the necessary action is taking pen to paper or hands to the computer.

Natalie Goldberg quotes her Zen teacher, Roshi, on the topic of loneliness.  Specifically, Roshi says "Anything you do deeply is very lonely.  There are many Zen students here, but the ones that are going deep are very lonely."  Roshi goes on to make the point that "it is just loneliness."

So, unless you're paralyzed (said jokingly of course) it's important to keep in writing action.   It's important to either write about your loneliness if you 're feeling it and want to address it, or let it  be, and do your other writing anyway.

Staying with the writing despite negative feelings is part of developing a writing routine.  I talked about that in an earlier post, and likely it will come up again because routine is essential.  No matter how your feel – even if it's ecstatic – feelings are NOT a good reason to break or alter a writing routine.

Occasionally, the routine will get broken or altered.  But, occasionally is the key here.  Occasionally loeliness may be too paralyzing to write.  However, it is rare that loneliness gets that intense.  So, it's important to NOT be self indulgent, but rather to be a persistent, persevering writer with a writing routine.