Sometimes, I have felt trapped in terms of my thoughts and what I want to write or say. I go through periods as a writer where I want to write something really profound and amazing. I have these ambitions to write, and I just don’t know exactly how to start. Simliarly to when you’re learning to walk, you have to put one foot forward and then the next after that. You’re going to fall, and you’re not going to have the perfect introduction at times. It’s not going to be super inspiring or as exciting as what you normally write. But the key is to start and to just go from somewhere.

Blank Page, Dark Cave

I don’t like how I’m writing this post right now. I don’t know exactly where it’s leading me, and I’m just kind of rambling at this point. Sometimes, to unclog a brain blockage or a creativity block, that’s what you have to do. You just have to start somewhere and dig. Dig and keep digging, finding any glimpse of sunlight.

Imagine if you’re in a cave and it collapsed on you. There’s a lot of rubble in front of the entrance. The initial thought is panic. You are paralyzed, you can’t act at all, and you’re surprised. You think, “How am I going to get out of this cave? There is no way out. It’s blocked. We don’t have any shovels or pickaxes to dig ourselves out.” Start with the smallest piece of rubble and clear that out. Then work your way up to the middle pieces and eventually look for things in your area to help leverage against those larger boulders.

That could be anything. If there’s someone else in the cave that’s stuck with you, work together to find a way. Sometimes it’s not going to be apparent at all what you need to do or where your tools are going to be. What helps me, I’ve found, with writing when I feel caved in or have a creativity cave-in, is just to start and to continue to write. There’s freedom in allowing your mind to just wander and take it where it will. Then you can have some progress.

Now, sometimes there’s going to be an abrupt ending to your writing. It might just stop.

Stop. No really, stop doubting your ability. When you’re experiencing a “creativity cave-in” the only wrong way to write is to not start.