Wajiha Hyder" />
  • ABOUT
  • PRINT
  • PRAISE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • OPENINGS
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTACT
The Missing Slate - For the discerning reader
  • HOME
  • Magazine
  • In This Issue
  • Literature
    • Billy Luck
      Billy Luck
    • To the Depths
      To the Depths
    • Dearly Departed
      Dearly Departed
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
  • Arts AND Culture
    • Tramontane
      Tramontane
    • Blade Runner 2049
      Blade Runner 2049
    • Loving Vincent
      Loving Vincent
    • The Critics
      • FILM
      • BOOKS
      • TELEVISION
    • SPOTLIGHT
    • SPECIAL FEATURES
  • ESSAYS
    • A SHEvolution is Coming in Saudi Arabia
      A SHEvolution is Coming in Saudi Arabia
    • Paxi: A New Business Empowering Women in Pakistan
      Paxi: A New Business Empowering Women in Pakistan
    • Nature and Self
      Nature and Self
    • ARTICLES
    • COMMENTARY
    • Narrative Nonfiction
  • CONTESTS
    • Pushcart Prize 2017 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2017 Nominations
    • Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominations
    • Pushcart Prize 2015 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2015 Nominations
    • PUSHCART 2013
    • PUSHCART 2014
Commentary, EssaysAugust 27, 2012

In Pursuit of Words

By Wajiha Hyder

“Writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

Artwork by Babar MughalI have recently made a ritual of meeting with my computer every night, in the anticipation of putting something on to that numbingly blank Word page. Most nights however, I wind up our tête-à-tête with growing disappointment.

Like many things in life, I’ve never sought an acquaintance with writer’s block, but the damn thing is now a staple, and time—that goon— stubbornly refuses to reverse itself.

The “creative block” has happened to almost every writer at least once in their lifetime. There is a reason why Neil Gaiman found writing to be “a very peculiar sort of job” and Stephan King wrote, “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will”. I believe that writers are blessed with the ability to listen to an inner voice and then to subsequently convert that voice into words, making it accessible to the world. The likely notion of never being able to come up with another word is terrifying — often to the brink of paranoia.

S.T. Coleridge, on his 32nd birthday wrote (largely to himself), “Yesterday was my birthday. So completely has a whole year passed, with scarcely the fruits of a month! O Sorrow and Shame — I have done nothing!”

Listening to that inner voice and translating it into language is something that requires effort, stamina and to a large extent, bravery.
So why does it happen? There was a time when I still listened to my voice and was quite proud of it too. But then something happened — my words just stopped making sense. In my mind I knew what to write but the words just did not come out as aesthetically pleasing on paper as I’d like. It is ridiculously obnoxious to endure the dilemma of sitting alone and focusing on what needs to be said when you’re completely lost for words — a predicament that can only be understood by those who’ve looked into the abyss.

Some say that the extended writer’s block most writers swear to have gone through at some point may be nothing more than a product of self-doubt. It was Sylvia Plath who wrote that “the worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” The amount of angst a writer experiences when alone with nothing but a computer’s keyboard to communicate with is inexplicable. Add to that the misery of uncertainty and you have a blocked mind. As observed by Pulitzer award winner Norman Mailer, writer’s block is nothing but the failure of ego. The feeling of self-doubt will only affect those who feel that their work is somehow lesser than the work of others, those who stop taking pride in what they do. Having a considerable amount of self-confidence in whatever a person creates, seems vital for being able to proudly present the end result to the world. To listen to that inner voice and translate it into language is something that requires effort, stamina and to a large extent, bravery.

Then there are those contemporary writers who believe that writer’s block is a self-created concept, invented by writers who are plainly incapable of handling the huge responsibility that comes with being a writer. This includes bestselling authors like Terry Pratchett, whose famous line, “There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write” made waves when first spoken. These writers incessantly argue that you’re either blessed with the gift of writing or you’re not and that there is no such thing as simply forgetting how to give words to your “voice”.

Such is the paradox of man’s creative process.

Whether writer’s block exists or doesn’t, whether it ought to be given more credence or not, the truth is most writers have been plagued with this dilemma ever since the first word was written. Somehow a mere incapacity to write cannot suffice as the only possible explanation. As for me, I believe that after a while your voice just plain abandons you and gets mauled by the thousands of “others” around it that always seem mightier than your own.

But I do not like being in this state of helplessness — it leads first to anxiety and then eventually to despair, from where there is seldom any return. One thing is certain, it will not stop me from continuing these meetings with my computer, however unproductive they might seem. I am quite sure that someday the words will start to flow. They just have to.

Perseverance, they say, is one of the best natural remedies for writer’s block. I think that will have to be my answer, if only for the moment.

 

The author is a Contributing Editor for The Missing Slate.

Illustration by Babar Mughal.

Tags

on writingWajiha Hyder

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleOn Call: A Surgical Nightmare
Next articleWith No Homeroom Teacher

You may also like

A SHEvolution is Coming in Saudi Arabia

Paxi: A New Business Empowering Women in Pakistan

Nature and Self

Ad

In the Magazine

A Word from the Editor

Don’t cry like a girl. Be a (wo)man.

Why holding up the women in our lives can help build a nation, in place of tearing it down.

Literature

This House is an African House

"This house is an African house./ This your body is an African woman’s body..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

Shoots

"Sapling legs bend smoothly, power foot in place,/ her back, parallel to solid ground,/ makes her torso a table of support..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

A Dry Season Doctor in West Africa

"She presses her toes together. I will never marry, she says. Jamais dans cette vie! Where can I find a man like you?" By...

In the Issue

Property of a Sorceress

"She died under mango trees, under kola nut/ and avocado trees, her nose pressed to their roots,/ her hands buried in dead leaves, her...

Literature

What Took Us to War

"What took us to war has again begun,/ and what took us to war/ has opened its wide mouth/ again to confuse us." By...

Literature

Sometimes, I Close My Eyes

"sometimes, this is the way of the world,/ the simple, ordinary world, where things are/ sometimes too ordinary to matter. Sometimes,/ I close my...

Literature

Quarter to War

"The footfalls fading from the streets/ The trees departing from the avenues/ The sweat evaporating from the skin..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Literature

Transgendered

"Lagos is a chronicle of liquid geographies/ Swimming on every tongue..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Fiction

Sketches of my Mother

"The mother of my memories was elegant. She would not step out of the house without her trademark red lipstick and perfect hair. She...

Fiction

The Way of Meat

"Every day—any day—any one of us could be picked out for any reason, and we would be... We’d part like hair, pushing into the...

Fiction

Between Two Worlds

"Ursula spotted the three black students immediately. Everyone did. They could not be missed because they kept to themselves and apart from the rest...."...

Essays

Talking Gender

"In fact it is often through the uninformed use of such words that language becomes a tool in perpetuating sexism and violence against women...

Essays

Unmasking Female Circumcision

"Though the origins of the practice are unknown, many medical historians believe that FGM dates back to at least 2,000 years." Gimel Samera looks...

Essays

Not Just A Phase

"...in the workplace, a person can practically be forced out of their job by discrimination, taking numerous days off for fear of their physical...

Essays

The Birth of Bigotry

"The psychology of prejudice demands that we are each our own moral police". Maria Amir on the roots of bigotry and intolerance.

Fiction

The Score

"The person on the floor was unmistakeably dead. It looked like a woman; she couldn’t be sure yet..." By Hawa Jande Golakai.

More Stories

Reinventing the Reel: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Film critic Chuck Williamson pulls no punches in his evaluation of Jonathan Liebesman’s “terminally stupid” ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ reboot.

Back to top
One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

Read previous post:
Bunheads: O Captain, My Captain

If Bunheads had not been renewed, it's final episode would've been a depressing tone to end on. For a light-hearted...

Close