There’s No Such Thing As Talker’s Block

If you spend too much time listening or reading Seth Godin, he’ll mess you up. Lately, I’ve been reading (re: listening to the audio of) his book “The Icarus Deception.” If you’ve ever thought of yourself as creative (or even better if you’ve not), this book is great for pulling back all the excuses  you have about not pushing the boundaries of your creative work.  And while I don’t agree with all of it, I highly recommend the book.

Several times throughout the book, Seth hammers away at the idea of writer’s block. According to his research, before the writing of books and novels became a widely accepted and revered profession, there was no such thing as writer’s block. Writer’s block only became “a thing” when writing became a revered art form. When the stakes got high, the fear of writing something wrongly kicked in among writers and ever since, writer’s block has existed.

The other critique he made was this: “There’s no such thing as talker’s block.” Think about it. No one spends two or three days or weeks without talking because there’s nothing to say. But many people, too many people, stop writing because of the fear of committing their words to paper.

The solution, according to Godin, is to write daily and publicly. The point of the exercise is not to overwhelm your audience, but to slowly and persistently learn to stop fearing committing words to a page. And that, dear reader, is why I’m writing today. Today, I’m going to commit to write daily and publicly.

That will mean a few things for you. My writing may be more than you’ve asked for. That’s okay. Don’t unsubscribe, just don’t read every post or feel like you have to.  Or, journey along with me. It’s up to you. My posts will be shorter. My motto, at least for a season, will be “less but better.” Also, my content may drift a little bit from what I typically write about on here. I’m trying to decide whether to open another blog of some kind or keep it all here.  The jury’s still out. I welcome your feedback. Lastly, there will definitely be less pictures, hyperlinks, and various cool things. These take time and distract from real writing. Those type of posts will happen, just not every day.

Finally, thanks for being part of the journey. This blog is nowhere near as fun without the feedback you provide.