Baking and Writing: Combating Writer's Block

Writer’s block is the bane of my existence. Most artists deal with that same problem on a daily basis. 

How can I find the motivation to create something? 

Where does this creativity come from?

When all we can think about is perfection, how can I sit down and write a messy first draft?

Writing and Baking

Every day, I wake up with the intention of putting something on the page. No matter what I have planned to do, it’s the first thing on my mind. I want to build something through words. The yearning to sit down and pull on some headphones, get wrapped up in a world unlike the one we live in, takes over me before the first sip of coffee.

Despite this, the procrastination and avoidance has a stronger hold over me than anything else. If the atmosphere around me doesn’t feel a certain way, I can’t hunker down over the keyboard. If the noise doesn’t make sense, or the headphones rub me the wrong way, there’s no way I’m completing a 1000 word goal in one sitting. The notifications on my phone will snag onto me. The distant sound of the television playing some cooking show will have me more occupied. Whatever my kitty is doing, whether it’s sleeping on her tower or swatting at a bumblebee toy, I’ll bother her for as long as she’ll let me.

This cycle of wanting to write but never writing has held me hostage for as long as I can remember. When I was a pre-teen, and literature first caught hold of me, I sat down at a desk or the floor and wrote nonstop. So much pooled within me and fought to be revealed. Worlds with magic and war had me in a chokehold, threatening to never let me go. It was an easier time to be a writer! 

Nowadays, when I can’t stop writer’s block from taking over, I do anything and everything to clear my mind and work with my hands. This could mean a different thing for a lot of people. Using other forms of art to refresh your brain can be a great example for this. Drawing, sculpting, and painting are all ways some people can push past any block keeping them from working as much as they’d like. 

In my case, there’s only one thing that I can spend every second of every day doing that isn’t writing. For people who live with me, work with me, or just plain know me, they would immediately say: baking. 

And they’d be 100% right. 

Throwing together cookie dough, whipping up some airy macaroons, creaming butter, filling cake pans to the brim. It all gets me excited to run in the kitchen! One of the things I look forward to at my parent’s house is flipping through the baking magazines my mother stocks up on. She leaves them stacked on the coffee table, tossing her chin at them when I stop by. As soon as I see the perfectly latticed apple pie on the front cover, dripping with a sticky sweet salted caramel, I snatch it up, devouring the recipes in seconds. I get alerts from my phone on a daily basis from my photo storage being all used up - it’s full of pictures I take of the recipes within the magazines!

The idea of today’s blog post is to remind you that having writer’s block isn’t bad, it’s something we all deal with. Even if you aren’t a writer, but seem to have trouble getting into the routine you want to have. This is for people who can’t finish their passion projects, who want to with all their might, but can’t get it done. This is for the students struggling to get their homework finished on time, only wanting to spend their time doing everything else - even if their school work is important to them. 

Consistent writer’s block or just plain procrastination can be a message from your subconscious that you should always pay attention to! 

In Friday’s blog post, we will be getting down to the nitty gritty - one of the biggest factors that contributes to debilitating writer’s block: burnout.

Thanks for tuning in. See you soon :)