Procrastination and Writer's Block Justified! *Ahem*

First off, hey all! I know I've been very scarce lately. I'm recovering from the holiday chaos. It was crazy for over a month, and I needed down time. That doesn't mean I haven't been working on the writing. I have. Mostly plotting Dead for Good, which is the new working title for The Collectors.

I like this story. I like it a lot. I think that the year long break I took from it whilst writing Dirty Business was just what I needed. I'm seeing it through fresh eyes.

Okay, so in my Internet and blog travels of late, I stumbled across this article, which talks about the contrasting roles of the limbic system and the cortex. This is pretty interesting stuff. It also makes a lot of sense.

So, there's this thing called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS for short, which switches the brain back and forth between the cortex and the limbic System. The cortex is where we get creative, the limbic system is responsible for triggering the Fight or Flight response in us when we're feeling threatened.

When the limbic system gets switched on, the cortex is effectively shut down. This means, of course, creativity is shut down. So if a writer is feeling threatened or stressed enough for the Fight or Flight response to kick in, creativity is out the window. Hello, writer's block and procrastination.

The are other reasons for writer's block and procrastination. I think that both are part of the creative process, in moderation. Sometimes you need to take a step back and do something else to let your ideas percolate. Also, there are tricks to help a writer jump-start their process again. Sometimes that trick is just sitting your butt down in the chair and typing. Eventually creativity will come back to you, if you're persistent enough.

Unless, of course, a major crisis is involved. There isn't much you can do about that. The limbic system will be busy trying to figure out how to keep you safe for you to be creative. Though I've spoken with writers who are able to use crisis in the creative process and use creativity to escape anxiety and stress.

I haven't really mastered that trick as yet, but I'm working on it.

So there you go. Be firm with yourself but don't beat yourself up too much if you've got a case of writer's block, or you are procrastinating. Just try to examine why.

Maybe you just need a little break.

Or chocolate.

Or a break and chocolate.

Anyway, chocolate should be in there somewhere.