A talented self-deprecating author asked me if he had the talent to do the hard thing. This “speech” is what bled out of me. It applies to all authors and artists. It tackles writer’s block and everything that gets in the way of us producing our art.

Civilization, society, and inculturation create a censor in... our... head.

Some people call it “a conscience.” The enlightened call it “the monkey brain.” It insists that we be normal. It insists that we fit in, that we keep our head down, that we must not be noticed lest the lion eat us. It is how society controls us, how society convinces us that we are happy with our lot when clearly we are not. It is how society molds us into a low wage worker instead of a star.

Society creates the monkey brain in our head to incessantly chatter away at us. It tells us “Don’t do that!”, “I’m wasting my time,” “It’s going to fail; don’t even try!”, “It’s too hard,” and “I can’t do this.”

Become aware of the evil implanted inside of you. Recognize it. Find it. Collar the beast. Wrap a choke chain around its neck and leash it. Force the beast to serve you.

Creative people are neurotic by definition... this a good thing. Fight that governor inside your head that dismisses things as stupid or unworthy, that keeps you from creating, that prevents you from evaluating without judgement “your crap” so that you can apply the intense pressure necessary to fashion your malodorous carbon into a diamond.

I am not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying you can do it. This... takes... courage.

My best advice for self-introspection is: Stop kicking your self to the curb! Failure is nothing more than feedback. Take your blows, stand back up, find a solution, then try again.

I don’t think this is controversial. If it feels to you like a sermon and that upsets you, I apologize. The last thing I want to be is condescending. Let this open a conversation on mastering the fear of writing. Please. Go ahead and comment.

I find the thoughts most interesting, and agree with a lot of it.
(But I don't agree with your obsessive use of bold and italics - but it's a matter of taste.)

It’s not easy!

7600836
I feel like a lot of this is wrong, even if your end point is right. Kinda like taking three right turns to go left. Maybe it's where you are or how you were raised, I wouldn't know, but 'society' conscience' and 'monkeybrain' aren't really any part of that.

A conscience tells you what you think is right.
Society tells you what it expects of you, which, depending on what you believe, could be nothing at all.
Monkey brain is the location of the four F's.

What this makes me think you're against is either: a collection of faceless voices on the internet, or yourself. Both may have points and one of which you can't really ignore. It's just your job to sort through the chaff on either side and keep up the discipline of writing; because that's the thing people misunderstand. Writing is a discipline.

If you want to break through block, writing can't be a hobby. It can't be casual, it can be fun, but it cannot be pointless. It must be consistent. if you have to write crap, write crap, but keep writing. You can stop and come back whenever you want, you can write and rewrite all the time, but if you don't keep coming back and adding a bit more, you didn't add anything, and you won't add anything.

Porter Robinson - Nurture: Mirror

And I know you’ll say how I’m a burden
Yeah, do your worst, all at once
I know what you want from me (from me)
I know what you’re thinking
And it’s not the voice of all the others
You’ve only said it to yourself
I know what you want from me (from me)
I know what you’re thinking
Narrator: (They come to feel like things we’re saying to ourselves.)

7600838
Hehehe. Totally understand. I gave that speech. That's the guide to how I delivered it.

7600884
This is true. It starts with awareness of what is going on it your mind. They why should be terrifying.

7600897
Well thought out reply. Thanks for a chance to reiterate.

It's philosophy. If you have "don't" or "shouldn't" in your head (which I did until I realized I no longer had to support my aging mother because she had passed the year before) no amount of discipline will truly destroy writer's block borne of self-doubt or self-deprecation. Maybe you aren't one of the people that are unconscious of the "don't" and "shouldn't" in your head, but a great number of people are oblivious of their self-limiting behavior. I was. Hard to believe, maybe, because I've written so much on site, but I kept freezing up. Then I realized what the monkey brain said. Now I sit down and write, full stop.

No discounting lack of discipline can be a problem. It isn't mine.

I am not against other voices, or other points of view on the Internet.

I am not against myself or my self. I am against being unaware of my inculturation and how it governs my behavior. I want to choose. I want everyone to understand that they can choose.

Your conscience doesn't spring from a vacuum. It is programming. Memes. It serves to encourage you to make choices within societal norms of behavior, ethical, moral, and secular. It is not debilitating in this context. Programming and norms are key, though. The programming serves those that understand the distinction (which may be you), or those that benefit from you not standing out from the crowd. Inculturation can be insidious; it makes you self-governing, sometimes to your detriment. For example, we all probably agree that anyone regardless of gender should be allowed to become what they are capable of being. Women should not be relegated to the roles of wife, childbearer, teacher, or nurse. Yet, in my lifetime culture enforced this, still enforces it it in much of the world. The inculcated when unaware will agree with ideas like women's roles—and argue for restrictions to their detriment! Yes, writing is a niche example, but wouldn't it benefit those who employ gig-workers and factory workers if something in your head automatically told you can't be artist, that it makes no money, that it's too risky? This is the monkey brain, our personal propagandist our culture installed in our head. Is it not better to be self-aware?

7600836

Become aware of the evil implanted inside of you. Recognize it. Find it. Collar the beast. Wrap a choke chain around its neck and leash it. Force the beast to serve you.

I like that.

I don't have writer's block. I have periods in which I don't have a clue and or don't like what I want to do next.
So I sit back and get some distance. Sometimes these problems can't be solved in the heat of emotion. Have to be frosty, objective.
After a bit of time, I get enough distance and ideas to continue.

7600930

no amount of discipline will truly destroy writer's block borne of self-doubt or self-deprecation.

I don't think this is quite true. Just being able to put a sentence down a day is a lot more rigor than I have. Getting to that point to me is going beyond superficial blocks like this.

It is programming.

From here down just sounds so... soul-less. He who lives not by his own conscious can hardly be called a man. In fact, I'd rather you act in what you think is best for you because you think it. This is, of course, in grown adults, but even if you act in error for some reason or other, why in the world would you follow advice you don't believe in? There's no oppression worse than oppression for your own good.

Women should not be relegated to the roles of wife, childbearer, teacher, or nurse.

Forced into it? No, but if you look back at the four F's, this is kind what women are made to do. When you ask a little boy what he wants to be when he grows up, he says whatever his hero or his father is at the time. Superhero, space man, fire fighter, police officer, etc. But nine times out of ten, a little girl will tell you she wants to be a mommy. The literal most important job in the world. The hardest job in the world. The most thankless job in the world. A mother has to be all those things and more because she's responsible for building her children's worlds. She carries the future within her and brings it up to become what it means to be. Because this is who she must be. There is no perfect mother out there, but every half decent mother is the idol in her kid's minds till the day they die. Disregarding the importance of a role like this is how everything decays.

artist, that it makes no money, that it's too risky?

This is literally just risk assessment. It's one thing to not even try as like, a hobby, but it's another thing to drop everything and chase after a dream with all you have. Because, more often than not, it just doesn't pan out. Not everybody is made to do anything, and art is almost exclusively produced by extremely lucky individuals. Blessed with talent, blessed with fortune, blessed with opportunity. You've got to have it all to make it big. Hell, you need it all to even make it well. Taking things as you see them isn't always wrong.

This is the monkey brain, our personal propagandist our culture installed in our head. Is it not better to be self-aware?

Your culture is part of who you are. You become self aware in your culture because you were raised well. Sure, you can be self aware all you want, but if that doesn't lead to a better you, who is it serving? Self awareness without the virtue to overcome the self is little more than a fear generator. Real virtue, on the other hand, comes from all that external education, from culture and family and how you were raised and what you experienced. Otherwise, you're just another lord of the flies.

7601107
Wow, where do I start? You do get what I am saying, but are interpreting it differently.

Just being able to put a sentence down a day is a lot more rigor than I have.

I am assuming that you want to write more than a sentence, but can't, and you are dissatisfied. Try an experiment. Ask yourself (in your head, write it down, ask it out loud, have a friend ask you), why? Why can't I? Self-introspection is not instant. Have patience. Do this every time you are dissatisfied.

It is programming.

From here down just sounds so... soul-less.

It is. It doesn't require religion or soul to be figuratively true. Read the Meme Machines by Susan Blackmore. You'll understand what an idea "going viral" means, and how we are a product of our culture.

He who lives not by his own conscious can hardly be called a man.

I think you meant conscience. I'm not advocating not having a conscience. I am advocating noticing what it tells you and understanding what it demands of you, and questioning if it is truly right—or something someone else want you (or you think someone else wants you) to do against your self-interest.

I hesitated saying this next, but I'll do it anyway.

Suicide is often self-punishment for crimes we think we have committed. We think we violated our conscience. We tell ourselves we are bad. I can say this because I was suicidal as a teen, then I got myself introduced to the concept of the monkey mind and it chattering away, affirming shit over and over and over and over. I didn't know it was there, and then I did.

My fear of knives took a few more years to overcome.

He who lives not by his own conscious can hardly be called a man.

I am a semanticist. I understand what you mean. I am not insulted by it. However, I will point out the construction in modern writing defeats your attempt to communicate to some audience members you truly want to convince.

[women]Forced into it[female roles]? No, but if you look back at the four F's, this is kind what women are made to do.

I understand you don't like this, and I want to be clear about that. I also want to be clear that everything thing literary I do I fights the idea tooth and claw that any woman (or any gender, or any whatever) should suffer being made to do something the don't knowingly choose to do. That goes for being forced culturally to choose something unacceptable if you understood how your culture controls you.

When you ask a little boy what he wants to be when he grows up, he says whatever his hero or his father is at the time. Superhero, space man, fire fighter, police officer, etc. But nine times out of ten, a little girl will tell you she wants to be a mommy.

This makes my original point. Culture. Girls, boys, people, are exposed to "culture" that sets norms. It is not innate, no more than pink is innately for girls and blue is for boys. (Pink was a boys color until the early 1900s.) Why I am a MLP fan is that the cartoon attacks "girl culture" in a totally subversive way. It clearly shows that being what you want is a choice. Even for Rarity. I am simply advocating understanding your self-talk, being skeptical of cultural norms, and questioning why you do things by rote. A good person is a better person if they act with self-understanding and do good things by choice.

This doesn't discount being aware of the bad things in your self-talk. Catch your self (maybe while trying to write?) telling yourself you can't do this, or it's stupid what you are doing, or this is too embarrassing to show. Do that, then tell yourself to stop telling yourself such shit. I think you'll be surprised what happens next.

artist, that it makes no money, that it's too risky?

This is literally just risk assessment.

I feel you misunderstood me. When a mother tells her child she expects them to be a doctor instead of playing the guitar or painting the picture, that is implying being an artist is too risky. Risk assessment is what you do when you realize the implied coercion, either in Mom's words or in the voice in your head telling you it's too risky. Being aware of the self-talk or that there is a cultural norm/expectation is how you make the choice for being a doctor or an artist without coercion.

Your culture is part of who you are. You become self aware in your culture because you were raised well. Sure, you can be self aware all you want, but if that doesn't lead to a better you, who is it serving? Self awareness without the virtue to overcome the self is little more than a fear generator. Real virtue, on the other hand, comes from all that external education, from culture and family and how you were raised and what you experienced.

• Your culture is part of who you are because you learned it from your parents, your pastor, your teacher, your friends, TV, or social media.
• You are aware of your culture because you learned to be aware of it.
• If you are raised well, you often become a good person. Being conformist and following orders also or additionally makes you good. Wait, is that true, or is it a social norm?
• Virtue comes from learning, understanding, and applying ethical and moral principles for the benefit of others and yourself.
• The fear generator is the self-talk that tells you shit and you believe it without being aware it exists or that you can stop the blather.
• Real virtue is often an external standard. It varies by whose standard it is, and who is in power (or has power over you). It rises from the values of a culture, and if you look at history, values change. Rather than reference the 1930s and 1940s, here is a loaded question intended to mess with your understanding of our culture: Were the founders of our republic virtuous? Please only answer that mentally as answering it here will incite a culture war.

7600836

Am I the only person who's never had writer's block?

Every single time without exception, if I had a block, it was due to some factor. Perhaps the scene I was writing had issues that needed to be sorted out before I continued the draft. Perhaps the entire story needed to go back to the outline stage. Or with learning art, perhaps I didn't lay out a clear enough goal for the week.

I've heard authors on other sites say the same, that writer's block is your brain's way of letting you know that something needs to be fixed before you continue. Or it just means you want to relax that day instead of write/draw haha.

7601466

You do get what I am saying

Nah, buddy, I'm so much more lost now. I'm not sure you're getting what I'm saying because this reply sounds incoherent to me.

Have a nice day.

7601466
I apologise for butting in like this, but I thought I might drop my two cents here before this thread devolves into an endless back-and-forth.

I am assuming that you want to write more than a sentence, but can't, and you are dissatisfied.

I'm fairly certain that what Koren had in mind is not the author being dissatisfied. What they are likely referencing is the "write (at least) a sentence a day" technique of sorts that serves to condition authors to make writing a daily part of their lives. It pretty much boils down to "No matter how exhausted you might be when you come home and no matter how many chores you still have to do, add another sentence to the manuscript on your table." Those who practise it claim that it helps prevent writer's block, and, if the writer's block strikes anyway, it allows writers to easily power through.

I am a semanticist. I understand what you mean. I am not insulted by it. However, I will point out the construction in modern writing defeats your attempt to communicate to some audience members you truly want to convince.

(Note: Just to be clear, I'm a woman.)
If some audience members can be dissuaged by a single word, then chances are, you won't succeed in convincing them anyway. Don't get me wrong, you're making an interesting point, but it's a point that you should think twice about including, since it might just antagonise the person you're talking to as well as anyone else reading the discussion (or the discussion may get derailed). Furthermore, you're making the point over a rather obvious word, but note that the same point can be made for any single word or phrase you might use. And not only because of "woke" reasons, but simply because the word might be one the reader in particular doesn't like or it serves to remind them of something. There's also the question of replacing the construction, since trying to refrain from offending anyone (a pretty much impossible task) by rephrasing will likely end up messing up the flow of your post or annoying people even more, since attempting to include a list of genders or looking for a truly neutral word is going to stand out far more than a single "man". And also, note that words that you don't include may also dissuage your readers:

• Your culture is part of who you are because you learned it from your parents, your pastor, your teacher, your friends, TV, or social media.

"You didn't include books or grandparents, yet they influenced me the most! I'm not gonna read further!"

I feel you misunderstood me. When a mother tells her child she expects them to be a doctor instead of playing the guitar or painting the picture, that is implying being an artist is too risky.

That's a bit of a vague and generalised statement. Also, it seems to me that you either misunderstood as well, or are purposefully avoiding the point made by the other commenter without acknowledging it in any way. Koren made the obvious point that a factory worker might pick up writing as a hobby if they want to, yet you seem intent on treating this as an either/or question with "artist" necessarily being a full-time occupation. If you want to insinuate that childhood experiences concerning your future career dictate that you cannot pick something "risky" as a hobby, then I'd like to see you back up this statement with a couple references from a reliable source. (Also, note that there are similar statements scattered throughout your comments that'd strongly benefit from you including some manner of reference.)

• If you are raised well, you often become a good person. Being conformist and following orders also or additionally makes you good. Wait, is that true, or is it a social norm?

You can make the point that if you conform to some laws of society, such as refraining from stealing or murdering, then you are a good person. However, you seem to be really prone to generalisation. I'm not sure how knowledgeable you are on European history of the 20th century, but know that those who were officially good according to social norms imposed by the communist regime in some countries were not seen as good by the majority of common folk. What is that? Two or possibly more social norms coexisting at the same time and place? People being good despite social norms? We could have a lengthly discussion about this, and we'd most likely fail to reach a conclusion. This is certainly not something that can be summarised in a single short sentence and used to make a point.

This brings me to something that you do in most of your comments, and that also makes it pretty hard to have a sound discussion with you. You rely on generalisation as well as statements full of very eloquent or educated words. It sure makes the statements sound nice, but to be frank, that's about it. You're using many of these words carelessly and without clarification that'd allow others to see the point you're trying to make. You speak of virtues and memes, yet the former can mean almost anything (Koren also used it rather vaguely), and, as an evolutionary biologist, I can tell you that the word meme has itself become a meme at this point and lost its original meaning. Your audience cannot see into your head, so even if your points make sense to you, others could use some clarification. Don't get me wrong, I think you're mostly throwing darts in the right directions with what you ultimately wanted to convey in your original post, but your way of conveying it is rather clumsy and oftentimes borders on breaking the rules of proper discussion, some of which I tried to illustrate in this comment.

7601481
Yep. You've got a healthy attitude about your writing. It works like that for me, now. After my last reply, I sat down and started a novella. I've been thinking about it for days, but I felt ready and blasted out 1,300 words. Wasn't always that way, so I'm envious and happy for you. Yes, nobody can write without ideas or direction, or when you're uninterested, just like you can't build a brick wall without bricks and mortar.

7601492
Interesting. I am an author not a scientist. You are right that I speak in generalities. I try to illustrate them with examples. You picked up on my inference about cultures with divergent values co-existent in time (ref communism), and I hinted at fascism. I apologize if I'm not rigorous and give references. That's a lot of work. I apologize for expecting readers to look up words and ideas if they aren't familiar with them like I do. Today, I looked up CBT and realized an author was actually agreeing with my argument! There are dozens of bits here I could focus on and go into thesis-like detail, but an hour devoted to a reply is too much, so I gloss instead of bogging down.

I fully acknowledged my semanticist note by communicating my understanding that the author was not intentionally being sexist. The phrase did give me pause, as did a few following it, but I sensed earnestness and wanted to make the author aware. I do understand rephrasing changes meaning. That does excuse clumsiness. Discard the quote; find another; write your own sentence. I am a feminist, but am also bewildered by wokeness trying to fix a world of language with a Stalinist lack of acceptance. I avoided using "woke" and implied it. I suspected I'd tick someone off by pointing out the phrase as I did regardless; after much thought, I left the phrase in because if someone actually did get ticked off by what I wrote, they would be thinking about the issue critically.

I left in my admission of being suicidal as a teen as I wanted my audience to think about what I fought back four decades ago and how. I am not a shy writer. As far as memes go, I meant the Dawkins and Blackmore originals and pointed that out with a hard reference. As far as conformance goes, and my cultural arguments, I pointed out they are not necessarily bad or good. It's being unaware of why you do what you do that leaves you vulnerable to acting against your values or best interests by performing actions by rote. To make a point, I am going to make an over the top assertion that is overly black and white. Pardon my clumsiness. Communist purges, genocidal cleansing, suicide terrorist attacks, and white supremacist plots to save America from the Libs come from acceptance without question by those involved that what they do is good and righteous. I advocate self-awareness, cultural skepticism, and introspection—and training and educating people to think for themselves. Elenor Roosevelt said education is the key to democracy; maybe that's why so many people fight teaching people to think. Critical thinking and skepticism is sadly missing in some communities these days; it resembles the rise of fascism in the European history you cited.

Funny, I just wanted to help writers be aware of their self-talk blocking them from writing. This discussion did go down a dizzying path, didn't it?

I like the points you made, but there are far more than I can answer. Thank you for replying.

7601484
Sorry. I thank you for participating. You did make me think and evaluate everything. I learned things.

7601492
1) Thanks for writing this because I was seriously lost on what dude was saying toward the end there. Words words words, that's what I read.
2) I'd always thought that the common definition of 'Virtue' was the quality of excellence in a thing, specifically a person or moral character in this case.