“Everyone’s a writer, I just have a general block” Is a line by the pop punk revivalists, Fireworks. They are a band that emerged from the 2010s scene, seemingly ready to take the world by storm. The release of Gospel saw the band receive international acclaim, but with the release of follow up, Oh, Common Life, the band would go just as quickly as they came, with neither a bang or a whimper, but an album that saw the band plateau. The band, now reunited and reinvigorated, dropped a surprise album on New Year’s Day, and with that blew the notion that they were failures away.
The career of Fireworks, and my own sophomoric career as a writer, may have had similar trajectories had I not been a coward. But, I am a coward. Every attempt to write leads me to that same generalized block where the houses all look the same, vacant as the blank page I stare at over and over while praying for the ambition and drive to face my fears of both failure and success. What would it mean to be told I am not good enough, what would it mean to be told that I have promise, what would it mean to be told I am good enough?
My writing ability seems to come in fits and starts, whether through lack of motivation, depression, over-analysis, or some other factor I’ve neglected to mention here. When the inspiration strikes, I seldom go back to revise or edit a single line, and trust the merits of my first ideas, denying myself an important opportunity to grow through my failures by confronting my own shortcomings as an author and acknowledging that I have not written the perfect piece on the first attempt, as perfection is nonexistent.
Failure is something that everybody should experience, especially aspiring writers. Failure leads to growth and development; it leads to the writer’s ability to adapt and find the resolve to stand proudly beside their own works. The example provided in “Failure can be an Important Part of Writing Development,” by Collin Brooke and Allison Carr is of JK Rowling, who had numerous known failures before writing and selling the iconic Harry Potter series.
Still, the odds of me every reaching that type of prolific notoriety are slim at best, because, despite my knowing the importance of writing and rewriting and rewriting, I am a failure by my own design, and continue to sit near the fencepost of my blank page general block, the one that looks like all of the others.
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