TRUST THE CREATIVE WALL: IT’S LEADING YOU TO GOLD

EVERYBODY - and I mean everybody - will hit a wall with their book. I’m yet to meet one author that hasn’t experienced this.

As sure as with all those marathon runners on a windy, rainy day on the London cobbles, the tank can, and undoubtedly will,run empty suddenly.

It’s here where the creative gurus come in, putting forward umpteen ways you can kick that wall down and gaily skip down the creativity path with abandon, releasing thousands of paragraphs of perfect prose, accompanied by a cloud of beautiful butterflies. You get the drift.?

Can you hear my cynicism? Me too.

So, how about this? Let’s just have a go at changing that wall narrative, shall we?

It’s perfectly natural and normal for writers to hit the wall. The main thing is not to panic. It’s as simple as that.?

It’s perfectly natural and normal for writers to hit the wall. The main thing is not to panic. It’s as simple as that.?

Better still, let’s just consider for a moment how the wall might just be good for us.

From experience (and I’ve seen this happen time and time again with authors), when that wall appears, it’s often as we’re getting really close to the heart of our story. In touching distance of the magic which turns our manuscript from mediocre to unforgettable.?

Creative police

If it helps you get your head around this concept; I like to see the wall as the creative police. They’re there to stop the traffic (our wandering, tired old thoughts), direct them away from danger (leading our narrative down a road so far away from our unique story and energy that we lose our way ) and to a free flowing, more scenic route that gives us space to explore as we head to the ultimate destination of publication.

Okay, so that’s a very long way to say, just trust the process, even when your usual process has gone packing, but I’m hoping you’ll still get the picture.?

The wall almost always appears because there’s something nagging, something that’s just not on point and needs addressing in our writing. And that something, doesn’t always need to be a big change of direction or rewrite.

Take one experience I had recently. One day, as I sat surrounded by mountains of paperwork (I like to do things the old fashioned way – sorry trees), I was stuck on where to go next with the storyline I was developing.

I stared and stared at the neatly stacked paper piles with appropriate Post-its. Nothing.

I tried writing on my laptop, writing on my phone, taking a break to go walking in nature with my dogs, and then come back to it, but still nothing…

I sat and sat, looked out of the window, feeling my blood pressure rise and my confidence plummet. But then…

I sat and sat, looked out of the window, feeling my blood pressure rise and my confidence plummet. But then…

I remembered the robin I’d seen on a walk I had during a recent work trip to Wales. A little bird, but a mighty one. Did you know these little red-breasted warriors will fight to the death and are hugely territorial?

That little bird had sat with me as I stopped for a breather, perching close to my hand as I laid out some crumbs for it to enjoy.?

It made me think about the warrior that exists in all of us. Not a warmonger, but a person with clear and clean boundaries who is not afraid to stand up for what they believe is right.

Boundaries

This train of thought reminded me of a client whose boundaries had been consistently tested.

Digs about their weight and their ability. Regularly overlooked in favour of colleagues and blanked at events, despite working tirelessly.

This went on for ages until my client decided enough was enough and moved away from a toxic environment. Their mental health had to come first.

Despite writing plenty of content for my client at this stage, this element of their story had not really been talked about in any depth.

Hitting the wall gave us the time and space to explore this part of the narrative in more detail and uncover even more layers.

The result? Even more powerful self-care messages could be woven into the manuscript.

My creative wall had given me a very solid reminder to stop, take stock instead of ploughing on in the wrong direction.

Choice

Hitting the wall gives us choice. We can keep trying to clamber up, bruising our knees, hearts and possibly our egos on the way, or we can actively choose to find another, more creative, way around it.

A way that offers so many more creative opportunities to explore something that we may have overlooked or need to approach in a different way.

The walk is nothing to be scared of; if anything it’s to be thanked.

When we’re able to look it in the eye, instead of trying to hit it with a flurry of neatly packed solutions, it always has something positive to share with us. Something to take our writing to another level, even if it feels anything but in the moment.

Just trust the wall knows best. So, before you grab your creative crampons and prepare for a terrifying climb, talk with it. Make friends with it. Invite it round for tea and see what it has to share with you.

Relax, you’re in safe hands.

Asha Clearwater is an NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) qualified journalist who’s been a news reporter, features editor and arts editor, as well as editor of several national business magazines.

Today, through her business Turquoise Tiger, she coaches business owners and marketers on the art of great storytelling to promote their products and services.

Through Turquoise Tiger Press, Asha works with individuals to write, edit and publish their books.