Lessons from the back of a trotro...

I have lost count of the amount of times I have opened this page to create a new post, fingers poised over the keyboard. Nothing. No wit, no whizz, no bang, no words. A constipation of words? Strange. It does not correlate with the million and one ideas that are swimming around in my head.

Driving to work this morning I saw a trotro in the next lane beside me that said ' we are moving foreword'. Spelling error or not, I think that was definitely a visual reminder - Ghanaian style - of me not having updated my blog in the longest time.

This is really the first time that I have been confronted with 'writers block. Hmm, the literature around the topic seems quite interesting with examples of writers block lasting for over 60 years to much shorter periods of time. Women also seem to suffer from the phenomenon more. I wonder why.

So some suggestions on how to break it which I am going to try :

• Scheduling time to write and work, regardless of the quality of the output. Sometimes I think I think too much.
  
• Engaging in brief periods of "mindwriting," in which one impulsively write whatever comes to mind.
• Taking a break, meditating, or doing relaxation exercises to relieve any pressure on oneself and on the writing.
  
• Doing something out of the ordinary.
  
• Returning to the writing after a lapse of a day or two.
• Set your writing down, go out and do something (something that will keep you busy) and then come back in a few hours with a fresh mind.
• Joining a writing group - help Ghana Bloggers!
  

So will definitely put a piece together this week. Will move foreword indeed.