The human consciousness is like a busy city with thoughts and emotions constantly racing about. It is a chaotic slew of obligations, memories, distractions and more, but that is the very beauty of it. A healthy brain never sleeps; it is constantly thinking. The act of writing is remarkable because it allows the writer to display just a fraction of that chaotic mind on paper in a way that sounds intriguing. The writer turns on the faucet for ideas to flow onto the page. So, what really happens when that flow begins to feel clogged? In Geoffrey Carter’s “Writer’s Block Just Happens to People”, he debunks the entire idea of writer’s block. Describing where the term originated, Carter explains that the source is not exactly liable. He then uses the term slacker to define the ideal person who could effortlessly overcome this anomaly. A better idea would be that writer’s block doesn’t exist at all because the mind is never actually empty. Instead of focusing on what isn’t there, rather say what is there.

            Now let’s begin with the origin of writer’s block. It was a term coined by Edmund Bergler. Bergler was an assistant of the famous neurologist, Sigmund Freud. During his career he made a whole bunch of bizarre psychological claims that only he alleged to know how to cure; writer’s block being one of them. After digging through research, Carter finally found an anecdote describing one of Bergler’s patients stating that “the patient said he “unlocked his [own] literary resources” by playing with his psychiatrist’s name: Bergler” (Carter 101). In doing this the patient was able to create something out of what he was already thinking about. The point here is that Bergler didn’t do anything catastrophic to help his patients. He just invented a false phrase and then asserted himself to fix something that was never broken.

“White Printer Paper” by Toa Heftiba. Unsplash. “a little space to be creative”. 

           Why did this term stick though? It was clearly created by a borderline delusional psychoanalyst. It must have gained popularity by the comfort it creates. It allows one to think that because they cannot write, something must be wrong with them thus creating an excuse to not write. Carter brings an article to our attention called “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writer’s Block” by Dennis Upper where he tells that “the article (no joke) is a blank page with a footnote that was “published without revision” (Carter 100). This article was rather humorous in that it reads nothing but says everything it needs to. Upper’s work was a published and highly regarded piece of literature. This is so simply because it was unexpected, unique, and relatable.

           The art of writing takes a certain amount of creativity in which all minds have the natural capacity to do. In Mike Rose’s When a Writer Can’t Write (The Guilford Press), he introduces three key concepts “(1) creativity is self-expression (2) creativity is doing something new or unique and (3) creativity is using old things in new ways” (Rose 149). All three of those ideas are methods to spark inspiration for writing. This becomes most complicated for students who don’t consider themselves to be creative thinkers. They need to feel confident that their ideas are good ones. 

           At the end, Carter saves the best for last in his allusion to Richard Linklater’s movie Slacker to which he calls a “masterpiece of the mundane” (Carter 102). The 1991 film is a compilation of random moments that are oddly entertaining. It didn’t require any amount difficult thought or effort. It just embodies the quirky, awkward moments that make up everyday life. Perhaps that is the secret; to be a slacker. In other words, to embrace one’s mind for what it is saying even when it sounds completely insignificant. A better idea is that writer’s block is a myth and instead of daunting the blank page, view it as an amazing place where just about anything can happen.

Open book and magical glowing letters.

Work Cited 

Carter, Geoffrey V. “Writer’s Block Just Happens to People” Bad Ideas About Writing, edited              

            by Cheryl E. Ball (pp. 99-103). essay.

Rose, Mike. When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing-Process Problems. The Guilford Press, 1985.

Upper, Dennis “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writer’s Block” Journal of

            Applied Behavior, Fall 1974, (pp. 497)