Cure Writer’s Block by Traveling

I went to Michigan last week with the idea that I might be less distracted there and better able to focus on writing my thesis…. and it totally worked! I believe I got more done there in a week than I had gotten done in the last month at home (which wasn’t much, sadly). I also began to understand and see things more clearly; I began to grasp the big picture of what I am writing about. I keep thinking of famous American expatriates who relocated for the purpose of accomplishing something that seemed much less likely from their home soil- especially writers who were portrayed during significant periods of literature as sort of “breaking free” of the confines of home and finding new inspiration, openness, and acceptance in more exotic places such as Paris (Indeed, I took an entire class in college called “American Writers in Paris” in which we studied the work of the Lost Generation e.g. Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound).

Ernest Hemingway

Thus romanticizing my lowly trek from state to state, I was lucky to have my hopes fulfilled. During each day while my boyfriend was detained at work, I was able to crank out more actual study time than had even seemed feasible while here at home. Perhaps it is deceit to call my problem “writer’s block” since it seemed to be more kin to a case of complete lack of motivation and focus. In any case, however, the new location, lack of chores, errands, and interruptions all came together like a fresh breath of air to clear a few of the cobwebs from my head and the glaze from my eyes. My only regret is that I could not stay longer. If a week-long vacation could do such wonders…

I’m attempting to continue the trend here at home: getting up earlier, maintaining a narrower focus, actually beginning the work (as my roommate pointed out yesterday, it is really the lag time before the task is begun that is the true reckoning force). It is not the same, however, when there are bills to pay, cleaning to be done, pets to be cared for, and packing to be planned, but if I try very hard I can still recapture a bit of the serenity and focus that I achieved during my little vacation and insert it into today.