I write therefore I live. Since my return home, my desire to describe has dried up. Does this mean that I haven’t experienced anything delectable since then?! Still, I gradually sank into the banality of everyday life and gradually let myself be caught up in the pain of a blank page.
The white page syndrome, how to overcome it? The Artificial Intelligence response
I asked an artificial intelligence (AI) to find me the solution and here is his answer:
- write every day : Writing is a habit that develops with practice. The more you write, the easier it is to write. Try setting yourself a daily writing goal, even if it’s just a few sentences.
- Start by writing anything : The important thing is to start writing, even if it’s not perfect or even coherent. Write down whatever comes to mind, even if it seems absurd or pointless.
- Change environment : If you are stuck in front of a blank page, change location. Get out of your house and write in a park or a cafe. A new environment can stimulate your creativity.
- Make a writing plan : If you’re having trouble getting started on a project, make a writing plan. Decide what you are going to write, how you are going to do it, and when you are going to do it. A writing plan can help you focus on your goal and avoid distractions.
- Take a break : If you get stuck, take a break. Take a walk, listen to music, or do something that inspires you. Sometimes a break can help you get a different perspective and give you new ideas.
- Write a draft : Do not try to write everything perfectly on the first attempt. Write a draft and come back to it later to improve it.
- Chat with other writers : Talk to other writers and share your experiences. Others can give you advice and encouragement to help you overcome the evil of the blank page.
The cart before the horse
All these indications seemed to me very unsuitable and did not arouse any desire to put me there. For what? quite simply because I did not understand the problem at the source and in the whirlwind of daily life, I had never really lingered on the question. I never stopped to ask myself why I had lost my desire to write, to record everything on paper, yet this is not only detrimental to my passion, but also to my work. Indeed, I have not committed any scientific production for two years. When you are a scientist, you understand the vital need to publish constantly. The source has dried up, not necessarily for lack of inspiration but for laziness, loss of desire, motivation, etc. Despite all the good reasons, the constant need to record my snippets somewhere, I still lost the thing. I didn’t understand what or why.
Seeking a solution when the basics of the problem are not defined would be to put the cart before the horse.
The human solution
Not being more motivated by the solutions prescribed by the AI, I turned to more human references. I was certainly not the first blogger to experience this problem, so I typed in the search bar on the home page of Mondoblog ” blank page “. Three posts caught my attention, due to their accuracy and humanism.
- When a blogger reconciles with herself from the blogger Tias.
Indeed, I recognized myself in the digimania of Tias and his words I blog because I need to write. Yes, it’s a need, more than a want » found a perfect echo in me.
Likewise, the propensity to want everything to be perfect. The perfectionism evoked by Anne Laure from the blog My African Path was another silent reason behind my blank page sickness. Several times I thought like her: rather than posting something that I find average, I don’t post anything. And that’s how days turned into weeks and weeks into months …and the months even turned into years for me.
A point of view supported from the first advice of the tutorial of Mondoblog on the subject. ” What blocks our inspiration is the fact that we put pressure on ourselves and seek to write a unique and out-of-the-ordinary article.“. So I immediately said to myself out loud while reading it “ I am authentic and talented« .
Homme versus Machine
The AI was right and listed all the possible strategies to regain the lost passion for writing, but it did not know how to convey to me the emotions necessary to put this plan into practice. We are not machines and it is not because we know exactly what we must do that we want to do it or that we get started.
The emotion conveyed in these different posts unblocked something in me, by putting my finger on the initial reasons for the blockage, by deciphering the basis of the problem – the evil of the blank page. Just like Tiasy, I have reconciled with myself. I had to understand that I was disconnected, TOO connected, parasitized and still talented.
Human emotion is a powerful catalyst of commitment, of creativity; but make no mistake, human emotion remains both a positive and a negative stimulus.