Plumber’s Block

I’ve often heard this term when writers try to talk themselves out of having “writer’s block” or artists having “artist’s block” (or whatever the artist phrase for this is). It’s a situation where you feel stuck, or you just can’t get motivated to write, or work on art, or whatever. The response to this is “have you ever heard of plumber’s block?”, which is supposed to elicit a response like “well, no I guess I haven’t”. This is meant to get you into a mindset of just doing the thing even if you’re not feeling it that day, like a plumber would.

The problem wit this analogy, is that plumbers do get “plumber’s block”, or something like it. I’ve done plumbing for my own home, and believe me, there are times when the last thing I want to do is deal with a blocked drain or toilet, or a water heater that needs maintenance. I don’t just do it anyway, I procrastinate and find almost anything else to do instead — kind of like writer’s block, or artist’s block, or whatever.

The thing is, plumbing, or brick laying (which I used to do professionally), or even engineering, isn’t quite the same as writing or painting or composing music. Sure, there’s opportunity for creativity — especially in engineering. But it’s not the same as the kind of “pure” creation writers and other artists are faced with when blocked. Plumbers don’t always just go to work no matter what, because many of them get sick days and paid vacation days, or just plain take a day off because they can’t stand the thought of crawling around under somebody’s sink that day. Engineers definitely have to be creative, but usually for a specific purpose with stakeholders helping to drive direction. It’s not the same. But feeling blocked and needing to take a break is universal.

Writers and artists don’t often have paid time off, so it’s harder to feel good about taking a personal day. But it’s also super important to do that once in a while. Take along walk, watch a movie, do something for yourself other than working on your art. Just don’t stay stuck. If you have deadlines, communicate with your customers or editors or collectors. They’ll understand as long as you don’t stay stuck for too long. Taking a short break for a day or two might actually result in better productivity afterwards so you many not even lose as much time as you think.

I don’t actually have writer’s block (or artist’s block in my case) at the moment. I do have “tax filing block” right now though, and I’m going to take that break and still be OK for my deadline.

In the mean time, I plan to keep on painting.