Any advice greatly appreciated!

One thing we can all do even on the most blocked days is read. Anything, everything. Books, poems, magazines, does it matter what? No. People have told me a good trick is to read something you would avoid reading if it was the only book on a desert island. That might work too. I can't say I've ever suffered from real 'Writer's Block': I might go a couple of days without writing anything, but that hardly counts. So, I guess, I'm saying I force myself to write and think about the standards later. In my opinion, you should discard nothing; leave what you write on the down days and go back to it much later on a good day. Rewrite it - or not. You might just have thought it no good just because you read it on the same bad day you wrote it. That's possible too, isn't it? Write about the block? To go back to reading, read on here and comment. If your comment provokes discussion with the writer that often inspires writing, or has done for me. Good Luck Ewan.

Ewan offers some very good advice and I would only add to it. Since you mention depression then try to make sure you get out for a walk every day! It can be very difficult to propel yourself through the door into a world outside your den but both the exercise and the fresh air are very therapeutic. Try to make it around the same time every day so that it becomes a routine. Parks are great places to go! That's why so many writers and poets go there. If you can, borrow a dog; dog walkers are always happy to chat to other dog walkers. Get as much sunshine as you can and you will find that stories write themselves as you explore God's garden!

Hi SC. I too suffer depression; a most insidious bedfellow! I live with it but have learned to 'Manage' it. I have a couple of 'tricks' that I use; one is to - as suggested - take the dogs for a run to the beach. Another is to read something funny; Tom Sharpe is my favourite. Also listening to music (mostly from the 60's). Everyone is different and different things work for different people. The main thing is to try something; get out, or get in and DO SOMETHING. DO NOT sit there and wonder at the world because, lets face it, that would depress anyone lol. I know all about the extreme highs and bottomless lows that are part and parcel of what I (you) suffer. There is light at the end of the tunnel; just make sure when in the tunnel, that you are facing the right way. This may be of no help whatsoever and I will not be the least bit insulted if you tell me to go and f... myself - I used to do it all the time. By the way; you write some great stuff, keep it up. Chris ;)

(Best read with a Wurzel accent ;) ) I don't know a lot about writer's block But I do know a bit 'bout depression There's a plant you see whose potency Can stop it right now from progressin' It changed my whole life, found a dog, found a wife And now I just can't stop smilin' Called hypericum, it'll bring back the fun And your block'll unblock, it's beguilin' ;) http://www.nelsonshomoeopathy.co.uk/coffee/pages/0992109996.shtml (The homeopathic version is best. Dissolve under the tongue or chew. As always with homeopathic medicines do not eat or drink for 20 minutes either side of taking it. Not good with warfarin or SSRI's - if in doubt consult GP) Had a quite astonishing impact on me. Hope it helps you too. Good luck!

FTSE I was simply attempting to pass on helpful information to someone regarding a substance which worked spectacularly for me. I think calling it a placebo only muddies the water and could prevent people from getting what might be lifesaving help. If hypericum were a placebo then by calling it so, those who it might have worked for will now avoid it and even if they were to take it, without believing that it might work for them, the placebo effect would not occur. Driving people into the arms of the SSRI drug barons could be fatal given reported complications such as a potential increase in suicidal thoughts. There are many anecdotal tales of the effect of successful homeopathic treatments of children and animals neither of which were in a position to delude their brains that the treatment would work.

If hypericum were a placebo then by calling it so, those who it might have worked for will now avoid it and even if they were to take it, without believing that it might work for them, the placebo effect would not occur. I've long since lost the link, but I'm pretty sure there was a study which demonstrated that the placebo effect still works even when you know it's a placebo.

Nice to meet you too.

Wow! It's a mental health related topic and I agree (broadly) with FTSE. An exciting turn up for the books.

Hey Bukh! I'd never swap a turnip for a book, no matter how exciting it was. I must change these glasses.

Hi SundaysChild I have only just come back to the ABC site after a long time away, so I picked up your thread rather late. However I did want to say something, because I'm in a very similar position! I'm half way through a writing MA, had to take a year out because of depression and other health problems, and some family issues, and have found writing over the last year to be rather like pulling teeth and finding each and every one of them more or less rotten. All of which is no good to you as I have no answer to your query! However, just thought you might like to know you are not alone. I don't know where the blocks come from, but I think keeping on writing something, anything, even crap, every day, just to keep some of the juices flowing, is the best thing to do. Even though I don't always do it! Hope you get back into your writing course. Depression is a right bugger. And sometimes the treatment IS almost as bad as the condition - I'm half convinced that one of the reasons I've found it so hard to write for almost a year is the medication I was on. I wasn't depressed, as such, while I was taking it, but I was like something out of Stepford. Nothing seemed to matter. I knew what I was writing was rubbish, but that didn't matter either. I don't have the knowledge to join in the discussion about alternative therapies and so forth; I can't say the little pills didn't work for me because they did, in a way, but I hated what went with it. Just keep reminding yourself you have talent, and every piece you write is practice, if nothing else. Good Luck!

Good Grief! Looks like I'm in the right place here. I’ve just been off for 2 years with depression during which time I re-wrote some stuff I'd been playing around with for a couple of years (or more!) and found it very therapeutic. I put in some characters based on people who'd contributed to my condition (mainly the senior management at work) and made them into the bad guys in the story. It kind of worked. I tried killing them off in several horrible ways (fictionally!) but then I found that I needed them for the story. Maybe that’s how life is? My vote is for SSRI’s, chocolate, and a good Jeeves and Wooster omnibus. Actually I blame the whole thing on Monty Python. As an impressionable teenager they showed me how crazy the world was, but then failed to explain how to survive in it. B.

I've suffered with chronic pain for 17 years, which naturally led to depression. My clinical psychologist suggested I try St John's Wort (hypericum) which has been proved to work in clinical trials. And boy does it! I can't tell you how much it's lifted my mood, and, even better, there's none of the side effects I was experiencing with drugs. If you take any other medication though, you MUST check with your doctor before trying St John's Wort as it can interfere with the efficiency of certain drugs.

Hi Whiskey. With you all the way on this one. Had a magical impact on me too - with no side effects and no dependancy either. Good on your psychologist for not prescribing SSRI's. ;-)

It's superb, isn't it? So glad it's made a difference to your life too, Jupiter. :-)

i am very late to this thread; i've only recently started exploring the forums. i agree with some of the very first comments about reading to work through writer's block. this site offers so many different styles and points of view...so many topics...get yourself a bit lost in it and enjoy it. something you read might spark an idea. a few back and forth comments might open up a friendship that inspires you. before signing up on this site, i hadn't written anything in almost 6 years...now that's writers block! i had plenty of ideas. just couldn't get 'em out. but pouring through this site opened things up for me. also, i didn't work for me (cuz i'm lazy) but keeping a journal might help. just jot down ideas or observations. no worring about form or grammar. no editing on the fly. just ideas. good luck! you've certainly got talent and style. jason

Hi Sunday. I'm late to the thread too but I just wanted to add that I have been through depression and with the help of therapy learned to acknowledge it, feel it and allow it to pass. Walking by the river helps me as does eating well, lots of fruit and veg, and writing. I only started writing as a means of therapy and the comments and community I feel here had undoubtedly helped me. Sometimes I was almost catatonic, watching jeremy Kyle and eating junk. Now I can recognise when I am depressed and try to help myself. It doesn't stop it but it sure as hell doesn't last as long. Good luck! sarah x

And I'm even later! Just like to say again it's great to have you back SundaysChild because you really are a great writer! Ok - my suggestions for writer's block? I agree completely with Ewan that reading really helps - my appointed writer's block curing anthology is 'Staying Alive' - a really inspirational collection. I also like taking walks. Just go for a wander, see what you encounter. I find a lot of my inspiration in nature so parks are always a good spot for me. Another thing to do is play games with your writing - have fun. Try write a poem about something really random and unpoetic like making toast in a morning or missing your bus. One thing I've done before with kids in my creative writing clubis make loads of 'flash cards' with random words on e.g 'tree' 'cat' 'honey' put them in a hat then pick one out at random and write a poem on it like flash poetry! Sorry I've rambled. Hope some of this has helped just a little bit ;) Magic xxx

I'm even later! Sunday, I am a big fan of your writing and it saddens me to learn that you've been suffering. I've been off work for over a year with chronic depression and anxiety and I know just how crippling it can be to the creative process. Recently - thanks to wonder drugs - I've been better and I've been writing again, but it is a case of managing your illness. Don't worry too much about the bad days. I had a creative writing tutor who told me that she was always writing, even when she was blocked, because she was always thinking about it. It's like compost - sometimes it needs some time to rot down. Also, as some of the excellent advice above has mentioned, don't be afraid to write on the bad days. Pour it all out and then look back on it when you're well - there is usually something you can use. I also joined a local creative writing class. Not as intense as my MA and only for a couple of hours a week. I go when I can and the exercises are always inspiring. Hope to see you posting on abc again very soon. Best wishes Sikander x

Writer's Block, Just write, the Alphabeth, numbers, nonsense, street names advertenties! It is possible to fool your brain before you know it you really will be writing. Good luck!

You know I’ve often thought about this. Take for instance this Viagra racket. The guy has no desire and therefore no need. Now he goes and (at great expense) creates a desire and therefore a need, his need seems to be in fact really to have a need? It’s nonsensical really. Or the consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages at social functions. The reason for such behaviour is ultimately to “loosen up”, lose all inhibitions. What for? And at what cost! Honestly. And then the smoking of cigarettes. I mean no person in his right mind who has never had a cigarette has a craving for one. So then he feels a need to go and create an addiction, a constant craving for nicotine. Same idea hey? Look I’m not a church-goer. One has to wait too long for the praying to slip out for a smoke break it gets quite tense you know. We come to the question of writing love poems to women, and it seems the motivation is simply to write a love poem, or even worse, to write the poem in order to make money from it. It’s crazy man. I know of a sir he rehashed a love song for a princess- who had just died. Queer? My feeling really is if you want to write a love song to a girl you should do it because you love the girl I mean like madly. So please, why do you want to write if you have nothing to write?

And I'm the latest! Firstly, I agree with and will certainly try out what Ewan and the many other wise people above have advised in terms how to go about beating the Block. Secondly, I loved reading the Bukowski poem that John Doak posted, which I hadn't come across before and it made an instant connection with me too - so thank you so much for that JD! I read this thread a couple of weeks ago and was 1)moved by, 2)experienced deja vu while reading and 3)agreed with a lot of the advice above, but I felt that the others had already offered better observations and advice than I was qualified to give. However, I don't agree with Tom Brown's observations which I've just read; that is I don't believe that the experience of Writer's Block can be put in the same category as the need to take viagra, alcohol or cigarettes! So in response to his rather sobering question, 'So please, why do you want to write if you have nothing to write?' I'd say that because SundaysChild, and any writer, wants to write because we, well, a)just WANT to, and b)because we love writing… We just, for various reasons, feel insecure (for want of a better word) about our current ideas and are thus reluctant about committing them to paper. However, I guess Tom has a point in that we have to work a bit harder in prodding ourselves to make that committment and see it through. Then, if it's good, we'll know it, and people whose opinions we sort of value (whether that's from discerning friends or from people on this site) will tell us that they like it too and/ or offer constructive crit. Or it’ll just be therapeutic rather than intended for publication, in which case that’s great too! I realise that this is all very vague and just my opinion. I've never suffered from real depression myself and I certainly don't want to, but I have had bouts of writer's block and until last summer I hadn't written/completed any stories for over 2 years and was despairing that I ever would again (reasons range from not having a 'decent' idea, to doubting that I could pull off any idea, to fear that everyone else would think it was godawful, to me wanting to be authentic and write about ‘what I know’ but then despairing that I everything I knew and had experienced was actually really boring, etc). However, towards the end of last August, I went on a really fun day trip to another city and I wanted to hold on to and record those memories forever and ever… and lo and behold I suddenly had the ingredients for a good story. And so I wrote it down. And while I was writing it, I was still despairing that it was, well, kinda mundane/boring/crap, but for the first time in ages I didn’t care because I was enjoying it so much, and that’s what kept me going. Since then: I showed it to a couple of discerning friends and posted it on here site for feedback; I made some changes in light of said feedback; thought you know what let me research some short story mags that might wana publish it and thus finally I could become a published writer; and then after sending my manuscript off to loadsa places and receiving loadsa rejections, I eventually had it retained for future publication by the editor of a magazine based in Rotherham who said he’ll send me 2 copies of the mag when it appears! Hurrah! (I won’t go into any more details in case it all goes pear-shaped and just doesn’t happen, but IF it does appear I shall no doubt ecstatically proclaim the happy event from the rooftop of the relevant ABC forum). So, completing that story (which I’ve removed from this site for the above reasons) gave me my drive back to complete more and I have. Of course, it’s not always enjoyable at all and often extremely frustrating trying to decide what I mean and then trying to say what I mean in the way that I want it meant, but I know that nothing compares to that buzz I get when I AM enjoying it and when it’s done and I can say, ‘Yeah man, I did that. (And I like it.)’ Good luck to everyone in their perpetual search for inspiration and with your writing - and belated but heartfelt wishes to you all for a happy and successful new year!

I think Tom was simply joking Scout. I don't think that writing is an addiction so much as a therapy or perhaps a need to create. The point of Viagra is not that it creates a need but conversely that it allows those with a need to erect working equipment;O) The point of this thread was more about dealing with depression than about finding ways to be creative. Most of the early posts do a good job of offering advice on ways that might help those who are suffering from depression to cope... if you Suffer just remember, you're not alone! As Hard as it often is... you WILL get through!