The Cure For Writers Block:
Go Fly A Kite!

There Is No Writers Block!

I know, I know. For many writers the struggle to overcome writers block is all too real. But before you grab your pitchforks, consider this:

It is all mental. Yes, we make it real. And yes, whatever is real to us is real. But you probably already knew that didn't you?

Then I'll tell you something you may not know.

Perhaps the most effective cure for writers block is to not write. I don't mean for good. Just for a while.

Go and do something else.

Let me tell you about a recent experience of mine that proved to be the breakthrough I was looking for.

The Song I Couldn't Write

I had been struggling with this particular song for weeks. Okay, months. I felt I had a great melody, but when it came to lyrics it was a dud.

The subject matter I kept coming up with was boring and not weighty at all. And the melody demanded a weighty lyrical theme.

I watched other songs come and go, wrote them quite easily. So it wasn't full-blown writer's block, as I was still writing.

I just wasn't writing this song. And it was driving me up the wall!

So I decided to shelve it for a while. That usually means it will never see the light of day again.

The Kite

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For Easter my five-year-old boy received a Thomas The Tank Engine kite besides the rest of his loot.

Of course, he wanted to fly it right away. But Easter Sunday was a busy day, what with family coming over and dinner to cook.

I promised him we would fly it the next day. I remember wondering how long it had been since I had flown a kite. Maybe twenty-five years or more? I wasn't even sure I knew how to get it off the ground!

The next morning my little boy grabbed his kite and we headed to the park, just the two of us.

It was a beautiful day, and quite breezy. Perfect for kite flying. And we had the entire field to ourselves.

We easily launched the kite and we watched as it quickly gained altitude. My little guy loved it, but as five-year-olds will do, he lost interest after ten or fifteen minutes.

He decided to play on the nearby monkey-bars. He told me I could fly his kite if I wanted to.

I did and it was awesome!

Watching the kite sail higher and higher, and feeling it tug in the wind was amazing. It took me right back to my boyhood. I thought to myself, "Why is it I don't fly kites anymore?"

It's so sad. We grownups all too often lose sight of the things that made us so happy when we were kids. We're too busy. We have more important things to do. We have songs to write.

The Cure For Writers Block

I have discovered the cure for writers block.

I know I have because I finally wrote that song. I wrote that song that had eluded me for so long.

It was the kite.

More precisely, it was the act of flying the kite. It took me to a place where most of us don't go to nearly often enough.

All it took for me to overcome writers block was to go out and play with my little boy. (And his kite!)

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