[Guest post by Alexia Petrakos]
Writing isn’t safe.
At least, writing stuff that really matters isn’t.
And the monsters in your (my) head don’t want you to be un-safe.
(Which is why it’s taken me weeks to write this.)
You could fight the monsters or ignore them like some people say.
Ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away, and the warrior method to dealing with monsters doesn’t seem kind, gentle or productive. Have you ever tried fighting through writer’s block? Every time I fight I end up not writing for a very long time.
Those monsters, that resistance in your head is part of you. They might have started outside you, but now they’re there.
Your first grade teacher may have scolded you for using blue for leaves instead of green and the rest of the class laughed at you. So now every time you step out of the norm your monsters stop you from being unique. Or your mom patted your head and said “how cute” to a 3×5 card village you spent hours and hours on, so every time you try to create something new, you quit or diminish your creativity because it’s just a hobby or just “cute” and not real.
All those voices become part of you as you grow.
So since they’re part of you, why be so violent?
I learned in kindergarten to use my words instead of hitting. So now I write out conversations with my monsters to figure out why they’re doing what they are and how to get past the block.
Ask your monsters “Why” and “what if…” questions. Things like “What if I did write this thing. What’s the worst that could happen?” Or “What if I did things your way and didn’t write?” Explain what you need, ask what they need.
Monsters will be loud, obnoxious and scary because they know that attracts attention. What if you weren’t impressed with their show and talked to them about what you want and how it would make you feel to write/draw/paint/teach/whatever?
Patience, talking, asking questions and listening go a long way with people who just want to be understood and it’s no different with your monsters. Next time you have writer’s block (or you have a string of monsters between your words and your pen), try talking to those monsters.
Alexia Petrakos is the co-founder of Monster Journals. If you want some help talking to your monsters, we have a few things to help! Since we think journaling is a great way to converse with your monsters, we created some journals (and rubber stamps!) to facilitate those conversations. Follow @alexiapetrakos on twitter
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Carole, thank you for hosting this necessary and useful blog post by Alexia. Alexia, thank you for writing it! You can tell that monster I’ve got a cookie for it next time it rears its ugly head
; ) This post is so incredibly relevant to what I go in and out of experiencing, as a writer that has just begun allowing myself to create, express and w r i t e. Funny, if you think about it and ask: Did William Faulkner give himself permission to write? Did Shakespeare? They just *did* it, an extension of who they were. They practiced it and created. Granted, their monsters may’ve been drowning in alcohol and barbiturates…The point: let’s talk those monsters down and do what we love to do. To you both: a heartfelt thank you for comforting the monsters in me today.
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