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I love this article with all my heart. Does it apply to 100% of writer's block? Of course not. The kind of writing that is so careful to qualify every claim to

I love this article with all my heart. Does it apply to 100% of writer's block? Of course not. The kind of writing that is so careful to qualify every claim to the point that it's a chore to read is exactly what the author is railing against. I believe strongly that they are right that avoidance is one of the key reasons people who want to write don't. One of the challenges I've experienced is that that sensation of avoidance can from two opposing sources: 1. If I'm not saying what I really feel, I get a vague sense of guilt and unease. I feel insincere and it makes me shy away from writing. It starts to feel less like I'm sharing and more like I'm a guilty defendent on the witness stand trying to assemble a convincing alibi. My conscience keeps telling me I'm going down the wrong path. 2. When I am saying what I really feel, I get a different discomfort. I feel this blushing cringe, like I accidentally posted private poetry meant for a lover to my Facebook feed. I am being vulnerable and exposing myself to attack. My sense of self-protection tells me I'm taking a risk. The hard part is that these two sensations can feel quite similar but the way to take action on them is directly opposed. If it's my conscious making me squirm, I need to change course. But when it's my vulnerability, it usually means I'm on the right path. It's taken me years and a lot of introspection to learn to tease these apart. On good days, I'm able to lean into the discomfort of the latter and avoid the former so that I can say something I truly believe is worth saying.

marginalia_nu 5y ago
> 2. When I am saying what I really feel, I get a different discomfort. I feel this blushing cringe, like I accidentally posted private poetry meant for a lover to my Facebook feed. I am being vulnerable and exposing myself to attack. My sense of self-protection tells me I'm taking a risk. You can just write but not publish: A historically popular choice in times when expressing yourself too clearly was worse for your longevity than smoking. Another option is to be so cryptic nobody knows quite what you mean (looking at you, German 18th-19th century philosophers) Or write and publish under a pseudonym. Good enough for Voltaire is good enough for anyone.
mbrodersen 5y ago
You can write whatever you want in private. Get it out of your system. Be cruel, evil, vulgar, petty, hateful, a racist and whatever else you really want to write in private. Just don’t publish it unless you are willing to defend it.

marginalia_nu 5y ago

> 2. When I am saying what I really feel, I get a different discomfort. I feel this blushing cringe, like I accidentally posted private poetry meant for a lover to my Facebook feed. I am being vulnerable and exposing myself to attack. My sense of self-protection tells me I'm taking a risk. You can just write but not publish: A historically popular choice in times when expressing yourself too clearly was worse for your longevity than smoking. Another option is to be so cryptic nobody knows quite what you mean (looking at you, German 18th-19th century philosophers) Or write and publish under a pseudonym. Good enough for Voltaire is good enough for anyone.

mbrodersen 5y ago

You can write whatever you want in private. Get it out of your system. Be cruel, evil, vulgar, petty, hateful, a racist and whatever else you really want to write in private. Just don’t publish it unless you are willing to defend it.