Creative Unblockage---A Little Help From My Friends

As a creative sort, I use up a whole lot of energy on whatever task I'm creating at the moment, and writing a blog post has been sitting on the back burner. I think I need a turntable, or a lazy-susan. It would be sectioned off and labeled "Writing", "Crocheting", "Papercrafting", "Learning a New Craft". I would turn it to the next section and work on that project, then turn again. Unfortunately, it would have a very big section labeled "Maintaining an Etsy Store."

I probably need a whole turntable just for my Etsy store. I used to label days of the week with different activities, such as photography day, listing day, crocheting day, but there weren't enough days in the week. Part of the reason is because I'm so slow.

With the mental and physical fatigue of fibromyalgia, things that used to take me a short time, now take forever. I've read articles about time management that say to spend one hour a day on the internet. That was supposed to include updating Facebook and Twitter, as well as answering emails and blogging. An hour a day gets me answering my email, to give you an idea of how slow I am.


I became overwhelmed by the prospect of any kind of internet involvement, but I know that it is a priceless resource for my business. Blogging also takes me a long time because I can't just write one or two paragraphs like some people do. When I was on a couple of blogging challenges (2011 Summer Blog Challenge, for example), I would research, write, and find pictures for my posts. Others would write a few sentences and be done with it.

One thing positive though about having the challenges was as long as I had a prompt, I could write. Without a prompt, I'm hopeless. There is just too much to write about, so I don't write at all. I've enlisted the help of some friends, including my friend Google, to help me with topics for my blog.

• Shannon at MadiganMade, had a similar problem Here, she writes,

You should know that I am never short on ideas for projects or posts. In fact, I have a huge list of projects in the works that are complete or almost complete. But words to describe them? They are harder to find for some reason.

 For her full article on how to get your writing mojo back, go here.

• A blogger at Crafterminds posted a wonderful post about some suggestions for what to do when you get in a rut. You can find it here.

•  Another blog I read (99u) contained a post on different types of creative block and how to deal with them. I've definitely suffered from each type, but I think right now #7 "Overwhelmed" is where I'm stuck. I would like to be underwhelmed for a change. You can read about it here.

My timer has gone off, so I will stop for now. Time to engage my brain in some other activity. And I didn't even get to add any photos.

How do you deal with creator's/writer's block?
Where do you get your ideas?