Most often when people talk about their literary sponsor(Brandt), it is with this positive outlook of how they helped shape their writing to be better. However, something that is sometimes forgotten is the fact that there are some sponsors(Brandt) that either negatively affect our writing or were simply possible sponsors(Brandt) whose advice did not help or work for the individual being sponsored(Brandt). I was first introduced to Ray Bradbury, who is a distinguished and unique writer, in my Writing and Rhetoric class in college. My professor wanted us to learn how Bradbury approached writing, and one of the main things that stuck out to me in a lecture of his, were his thoughts on writer’s block(Bradbury). One thing the reader may notice is that some mentions of writer’s block is cited to Bradbury, while others are not. This is to emphasize the difference between how Bradbury views writer’s block(Bradbury) and my own prior knowledge of it.
When Ray Bradbury talks about writer’s block(Bradbury) in his 2001 lecture at Point Loma Nazarene University, he speaks of it like it is this warning that tells you when whatever you are writing is not something you actually want to write. In my mind I see it as if it were a gate, this gate opens and closes depending on the subject or method of writing that you decide to follow. When it is open is when ideas are flowing, you are in the writing groove and you could pump out several pages easily. However, when that gate closes is when you get stuck, you are not sure what to write next or how to continue, and you can not write anything that seems good or fits. So continuing off of what Bradbury says to do, which is stop what you’re writing and write about something you actually want to, I feel like that means there is almost a toll at the gate. The ideas have to be something that you enjoy or want to write about in order for you to even be able to continue. I don’t think that Bradbury thought about college papers when he said this though, as we do not have the liberty to just write whatever or however we would like to. Which begs the question of how to deal with writer’s block when you are not allowed (for whatever reason it might be) to change the topic or method of how you are writing. That is not something easily answered though, as it varies not only from person to person, but also from moment to moment with each person.
For myself, writer’s block is not something that can be easily overcome. As hard as I try, I seem to be incapable of writing a truly rough draft. My OCD tendencies always have me edit as I go through, as I will hyper focus on any mistakes or errors that I see or any sentences that I just do not like, and I will be unable to think of anything else until I fix it. This leads to trains of thought being derailed, ideas being forgotten, and slow writing. Even the few things that I have found to help sometimes do not always do so. I have even tried to do as Bradbury says in just walking away from it and writing something you actually want to, which only worked slightly. The gate of writer’s block seems to enjoy opening and closing at the most random of times. Some other things I have tried to help keep the gate open is to listen to some soft music in the background to help keep the writing somewhat mindless because it flows better. I have also tried to write in small sections, where I write a small amount and then take a break and do something else, and then come back to it after a while to try and have a fresh mind. All I ended up doing with that however, was forgetting what my original theme and what the end goal of the paper was even supposed to be, and I would end up having to start entirely over which kind of defeats the purpose of trying that method in the first place. A new method that I attempted as I was writing, merely to see if it would even be a viable option, is to work outside while laying in my new hammock. So far it has seemed to work extremely well for me, it allows me to hyper focus on writing and not get too distracted by other things.
Although speaking of word count, that is another major cause of writer’s block for me at least. The mere thought of having to reach a specific amount of words is enough to make me unable to think of ideas or enough words to be able to reach it. Even if the word count is relatively small, say only 250 to 300 words, the restraint of having to reach the word limit makes it more difficult for me to focus and be able to write. And although word limits make it more difficult for me to get through writer’s block, smaller word counts are still easier to reach. This is especially true if I am able to simply ramble on whatever the subject is, even if the writing gets a little disjointed at times.
Something that is often enforced along with a word count is the MLA format, or some other essay format. This is another thing that I tend to struggle with in writing and that can cause some major writer’s block. I will often be trying to write, and I will wonder if what I am writing is formal enough or if it is too formal for an essay format, and I will end up rewriting things in an effort to try and conform to whatever the format may call for. And then there are the little differences and rules in how different formats have to be written that can sometimes be confusing.
Bradbury mentioned that he never went to college as he could not afford it, but that he simply read as many books as he could find in his own way of educating himself on writing, themes, and genres beyond the grade school level. I bring this up, because college, for me, is actually one of my first experiences writing any kind of academic paper since the 5th grade. I started doing home school in the 6th grade and was never required to write anything since I had a reading based curriculum. Unlike Bradbury however, I feel like this is something that has hampered my writing capability and caused my struggles with writing specific papers. My lack of any kind of essay experience has made writing college papers a steep learning curve. I had never even heard of MLA formatting before coming here.
All of this is just a fancy way of saying that writer’s block affects everyone differently, and what works for someone is not the correct solution for everyone. What Bradbury says about writer’s block(Bradbury) works for him, but as I have tried for myself, it is not the correct answer for me even though he’s a distinguished writer that knew more about writing and rhetoric than I’ll most-likely ever know. Not all sponsors(Brandt) are good or even helpful, some can either make a negative impact on your writing or just waste your time on something that does not work for you.
Works Cited
“An Evening With Ray Bradbury.” YouTube, uploaded by University of California Television (UCTV), April 2001, An Evening with Ray Bradbury 2001 – YouTube.
Downs, Doug; Wardle, Elizabeth. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Brandt, Deborah. Writing About Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011.
Reflection:
Writing this essay in the summer time was different than the first time I tried to back in the Fall semester. I actually managed to reach the word count for the most part on both the first rough draft and the final draft. I believe the biggest difference was that I actually took the time to understand what I was doing before just rushing headlong into writing it. There was still a little bit of a struggle in getting the formatting done correctly, and I definitely did not cite things correctly as I forgot to fill in the publisher’s information fully, but the structure and main information was there at the very least. It’s almost a surreal experience having written a successful paper, albeit with some help from the instructor, but a successful paper nonetheless. It’s good to see that I’ve actually made progress, going from a home school where I haven’t had to truly write anything since roughly the 5th grade and was unable to write an essay pretty much at all, to now having written an almost 1500 word literary analysis. There were plenty of minor grammatical and punctuation errors, but the overall layout, structure, and content of the essay was a fairly good quality. The word count that I reached compared to the required word count was something that I am actually legitimately proud of, which is because of the memory of the Fall semester where I struggled to get anything more than 400 or 500 words on the paper. I am proud to say that on this essay of a required 1500 words, I reached 1312 words. To see the progress that I’ve made and the places where I can still improve is really encouraging for continuing down the path of a potential writer. Not to mention the knowledge that I may need to have the ability to write papers that include some kind of rhetorical analysis for any future employment.