Striking WGA Writers Back to Work: Writer's Block and Getting Creativity Flowing Again

Anybody who does creativity for a living probably understands what it's like to take a long break (either by choice or against their will due to illness or technology malfunctions) and then have to get the machine in the creative mind started again. The old phrase to "use it or lose it" may still apply to those who've been in the unfortunate situation of letting their minds atrophy for months or years. Some deeper research into the creative subconscious, though, has enabled us to understand that the creative subconscious may be a separate working entity that only works on its own terms and time--depending on how focused you are. When you have the distraction of a strike--tapping back into that might be a chore...especially if you write for something as complicated as say...the aptly named "Lost."

Some of that effect was evidenced when writers went back to work one day after the WGA strike ended and wrote material for the late-night shows...that ultimately was worse than the improvised material Jay, Dave, Conan and Jimmy were working with since January. We writers know what it's like to see what comes out on a page after being away from the loop for a long time. It's not always a pretty sight, and the striking writers have to deal with getting their usually creative minds back into the fold so it doesn't appear that they're amateurs. They'll likely do the basic techniques writers who face mental blockages usually do: 1) Write stream-of-consciousness nonsense on the paper until you start seeing hints of good ideas. 2) Forced habit writing where you work on a schedule and write anything--regardless of how good it is (obviously what happened on their first day back from work). 3) Taking breathers and watching movies or TV to help you connect the dots to fresh ideas.