Stuck: Transforming Everything You Think You Know About Creative Blocks

By Beth Ann Erickson

Why don't you pursue your dream?

"Creative blocks don't exist." "Change your attitude." "Just blast through your block." I heard it all; every trite band aid solution to my very complex, creative block.

Truth was, a life changing medical challenge didn't fill me with inspiration. It wasn't a positive transformative experience, either.

Instead, I found myself navigating a crazy maze of emotions and head scratching moments. With each new blow, with every new reality, I realized I had a tangle of issues to unwind before I could resume my creative life. Perhaps you're in the same boat.

If you've found yourself with a dream, a higher goal, but just can't get started… this book's for you. It's for every dreamer, aspirerer, gentle soul who wants to achieve their life purpose, but can't seem to get on the path. 

Each short chapter contains a bit of my personal story, applications to your situation, as well as prompts to help you untangle your inability to get moving. You'll also receive a unique set of tools in the Bonus Tool Chest in the final section. You can also download the official "Stuck" meditation.

My hope is that STUCK will give you everything you need to venture forth and create the life you know you were born to lead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Filbert Publishing
• Release date: Sep 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781540189288

Book preview

The Creative Block

Boom

DATELINE MAY 2013: Everything was going perfect. I had a wonderful marriage. My writing career was going very well. I owned a thriving publishing company and the authors I worked with seemed content with how sales were progressing. I had a million ideas, aspirations, on ways I could help others achieve their goals. I was a virtual font of enthusiasm with exciting new projects on the horizon.

Best of all, I was set to launch a new resource I felt could make a nice impact in the self publishing boom already underway and was knee deep in the process of creating a handbook to help aspiring authors avoid common pitfalls within the industry.

Yeah, life was pretty amazing. All I had left to do that fateful spring was finish one routine health screening and I would be good to go for at least a decade.

The madness began with a regular physical. I aced every test. My body weight was good, cholesterol fabulous, blood pressure super duper. I was ready to march out of the doctor’s office when he uttered the words that would forever divide my life in half. He said, You probably should get a colonoscopy.

I laughed at him. No way. I've heard about those things. I've read horror stories. I have zero health risks, zero family history, zero red flags. Absolutely not.

He nodded. No problem, he said, but I’ll make a deal. You do this one last test... and I’m sure you’ll pass with flying colors... I won't mention it again for ten years.

To this day, I don't know what I was thinking. Perhaps it was a momentary lapse of sanity. Maybe my body understood something my mind had yet to comprehend. But, for some reason, standing in that office, something very odd happened. I agreed.

We made the appointment and I dutifully followed every instruction to prepare for the big day. Then things got ugly. I'll spare the details, except to mention that somewhere around midnight, I contemplated skipping the entire appointment. But I continued.

Then came the big day, the day that would forever change my perspective on life, death; living and dying. The moment that would alter the trajectory of my career: The birth of my very first writing block.

From what I hear, everything went swimmingly until the last moments of the colonoscopy. According to the nurse, the entire room fell silent when they ventured upon the golf-ball sized tumor. Big, black, ominous... everyone knew this was bad. Thankfully, I was out cold.

When I awoke, nobody would speak to me. The woman who assisted me to the changing room had no reply to my clever barbs. Every time I looked at her, she averted her eyes.

Still high on crazy colonoscopy drugs, I sat in my lounge chair, stomach grumbling, waiting for orange juice. After fasting for over 24 hours, I could have eaten the table. But no such luck. Little did I know food wouldn't pass my lips for the next week.

As my fellow patients sat in recliners giggling and chatting with health care workers, I was suddenly invisible. I glanced at my husband. He looked grey.

Finally, the gastroenterologist approached. He sat next to me and leaned forward. Then, he spoke the words that strike terror in the most resolute heart.

We found a mass. Boom. It's really big. Crash. The size of a golf ball. I'm 98% positive it’s cancer. Holy cow! We need to get it out right away. I would like to schedule surgery tonight. What?!? If we can't do it tonight, I want you at the hospital first thing in the morning.

At that point, still higher than a kite, even in my drug addled state I knew something very bad had happened. After I heard those words, everything became a blur. I remember marching out of the surgery center and heading straight for the clinic where I would receive the first of many CAT scans.

The next thing I remember was family members arriving. After that, I was on my way to the local hospital.

THE DAY THEY REMOVED that tumor was the day I encountered my first and probably biggest creative block... definitely one for the record books. I spent the next one and a half (possibly nearing two) years boxing shadows, wrestling demons, and searching for truth in a situation where truth would be very difficult to ferret out.

But I also emerged with clarity as well as the deep knowledge that given the right circumstances, any creative person can use blocks as a tool to find their path.

That's my hope for you.

As I relate my story, I don't want sympathy. I'm not a cancer survivor... in fact only time will tell whether that label will remain accurate.

I'm just a person who was thrown a particularly unfortunate pitch.

But here's the takeaway: Everyone gets to deal with demons. Many times unexpected events create blocks that seem insurmountable.

They feel like terrible news, terrible things, terrible awful whatevers.

And that may be the case.

But, if you want to embark on a long term creative career, you’ll need to gain some sort of mastery over the blocks you’ll inevitably face. Even better, I hope you'll make friends with them. I hope you'll be able to use them to propel your creative life forward.

I truly believe every life is precious. Every human being on this planet possesses a story only they can tell. And everyone's story is most certainly as valuable as the next.

I have a special place in my heart for writers, musicians, freelancers, poets, artists, photographers, anybody wrestling any kind of artistic pursuit. We live in a world that sometimes devalues our contributions to society.

Without your stories, music, your art, a little piece of humankind’s essence ceases to exist. If your only pursuit is the accumulation of wealth, you’ve done little to advance humanity. Artists help others understand the human condition, they make life meaningful... they enhance life for everyone.

So, tell your stories. Sing your song. Pronounce your poetry. Display your images. Vocally express your opinions. And when you face a block; a writing block, a lyric block, a poetic block, examine it. Don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Acknowledge it. Get to the root of it.

In my case, I felt too comfortable in my career. I felt like I was invincible. I felt because I made good decisions concerning my health, I was immune to many diseases... certainly cancer. I was wrong. And my block insisted I accept my thought error.

As you examine your block, search out its message. What is it trying to tell you? How can you use this information to honor your talent and take it to its conclusion, fully realized? Embracing the message your block delivers is essential if you want to move forward in your creative career.

The truth is, cancer taught me an important message: life is short. I’ve watched too many of my new cancer friends die. I’ve mourned beautiful lives cut short. I’ve witnessed my fellow NEDs  return to tumorville with a sparkling Stage 4 status and an expiration date.

I’m now a statistic. I'm a person dealing with cancer. It is a title I'll carry for the rest of my life. The only difference between you and me is that I likely know my cause of death.

So, write. Sing. Dance. Engage in your artistic pursuits, and may this book be a valuable tool you can use when that inevitable block tromps you.

So let's begin. Let's dissect this bad boy block. Get out your journal, pull on your thinking cap, and start writing.

Action Plan:

1. Have you been dealt an unfortunate pitch? When did your block form? What happened just prior to your noticing your block? What could have triggered its