Stimulating Your Other Senses to Help Cure Writer's Block

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website;
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Every songwriter goes through a rough patch, when writing the next tune seems all but impossible. Despite our best efforts, it happens. And even though you may do the things most people – including me – will offer as solutions (setting a regular time for writing, writing fragments instead of full songs, etc.), the creative part of your brain can and will let you down occasionally. At those times, you should back away from trying to write, and find ways to stimulate your other senses.

As a creative person whose main outlet is music, you may not consider it very useful to try other forms of artistic expression, but there’s a great reason for it: writer’s block is enhanced by fear of failure. The same fear grips athletes who go through scoring droughts. They start to wonder if they’ll ever score another goal, and the fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

By turning temporarily to another means of artistic expression, you’ll find that the pressure to be successful is not as intense. At the same time, you’ll find that other forms of art can serve as an allegory for writing. If you listen to visual artists describing the creative process, you’ll hear many of the same terms in their descriptions: colour, intensity, vibrancy, energy, and so on.

So if writer’s block has you in its grip, try some of the following, either spontaneously, or add them to your life as a regular, exciting creative outlet:

• Visit an art gallery;
• Buy some art supplies, get a book from the library, and start drawing, sculpting or painting;
• Take dance lessons;
• Take cooking lessons;
• Do flower arranging (Don’t laugh.. there are many parallels between arranging flowers and arranging music!)

And there are other things from the music world that will get you away from thinking about your own songwriting, and focusing on someone else’s:

• Offer to produce someone else’s CD;
• Design a CD cover;
• Organize an open mic night in your community or university;
• Listen to other people’s music (this one can cure so many problems, and will often open the floodgates for you with new and interesting ideas.)
• Take piano or guitar lessons;
• Give lessons.

Whichever activity you choose, remember that the purpose is to get you to think creatively in a new direction. Try not to pressure yourself, but enjoy the experience. You’ll find that by stimulating a different part of your creative mind, you will reap the benefits eventually in the form of songwriting.

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Gary Ewer’s E-books will help open up your creative mind and make songwriting enjoyable again! Read all about them here.