So you want to be a writer? - Dealing with creative constipation

Psst...do you have creative constipation?

Look at this guy- what a face. So warm and full of humor. You may recognise him...but in case you don't, it's Charles Bukowski (1920-1994).

One of the most famous American poets of his time, I think his poem 'So You Want to Be a Writer' gloriously encapsulates the joy, the madness and passion of writing.

If you have to sit for hours staring at your computer screen...searching for words, don't do it.

That's what Bukowski thought anyway.

Sorry Charlie, but I do think all writers have days where the words struggle to come, where the blank page mocks you.

I have written all my life, from my first stories 'Castle Rabbit' aged six (a romp) and 'The Cave' (surprisingly dark for a nine year old) onwards there is barely a day that goes by where I don't write for either work or pleasure - and very often both.

Strangely, writing my current novel The Secret to Being Tiresome has never felt like a chore. I can think of very few days during the whole process that I felt writing it was like wading through brain mud.

But everyone has had days, weeks, even months where writing was a struggle. And that's OK, life can be like that sometimes - it gets in the way.

It comes out of your soul like a rocket!

But, what I love about Bukowski's poem is it cuts away at the tortured artist shtick that can sometimes haunt writers, and instead celebrates the very tangible joy of writing.

Writing should lift you up, make you cry, let you feel and help you learn. You are the ultimate creator - whether it's fact or fiction, you and only you bring your thoughts, ideas and concepts to life.

What a thrill.