Every writer understands the internal turmoil of facing the white void of a blank screen. The sterile space of nothingness—no ideas, no experiences, no words to write—stares back at you and grows thicker by the second.
Writer’s block feels so insufferable due to our own beliefs that we have no experiences nor thoughts worth writing about. If lack of experiences is the case, then the first obligation that you as the writer have is to go out and create new ones. See new places! Meet new people! Develop new understandings! Explore new corners of the world!
Traveling doesn’t mean that you have to drain your wallet and quit your day job. You just have to be willing to learn, grow, and remain open to the endless opportunities that you will encounter on your journey, near or far.
Step 1: Ask Yourself Questions
What places do you feel the strongest connection to? What is that one destination you’ve always been itching to see with your own eyes? More importantly—and realistically speaking—where could you go within your budget? This could be as simple as driving to a city in your area that you’ve never been to. It doesn’t have to be far—it just needs to be new to you.
Step 2: Capture the Five S’s
Whether you are walking through the Siq to visit the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan, swimming with sharks in the Pacific Ocean, or hiking the trails in Zion National Park, it’s important that you try to be present as you experience the place you’re in and all the senses that it evokes. Note: A camera will quickly become your best friend during this stage.
Take stock of what you see. Pictures are an option, as I’m told they last a lot longer. Are you inside or outside? Is there a particular color scheme in the geography that you can identify? What does the weather look like? What do the people, plants, or animals around you look like?
Try to identify the smells you stumble upon as you experience this place. Are there scents that are new to you? Do any smells transport you back to another time or a specific memory? Where are the smells coming from? Is there a restaurant nearby? Is someone blowing cigarette smoke in your direction? Are they burning incense at the local church? Remember to trace these smells to specific origins.
Write down all of the different surfaces you touch, and describe what they feel like. If there is water, describe it. What about sand? Trees? Feel the ground beneath your feet, focusing especially on textures or tangible items.
Record the sounds that you hear as you explore this place. What languages are being spoken? Are there birds flying overhead? What kind? What about cars? Are police sirens whizzing by? What sounds are different to you? Do any of them remind you of home?
Savor every bite you take. Can you taste the air here? Is it a pleasant or unpleasant flavor? Did ocean water get in your mouth? What foods did you eat? Were they new, or did they remind you of a meal you used to love?
Merge the present with your own past. Relate the newness of this place to the oldness of where you are from or where you’ve been. What are the similarities and what are the differences?
Step 3: Begin Writing
Flip back to the photos and journal entries from your recent adventure. Study them. Try to remember the thoughts that were running through your mind as you took each photo. Why did you choose to take that specific picture? Why is it special to you?
Immerse yourself back into the places you visited. Identify the transformative moments. No matter how random, which memories or images stick to your memory the most? Write them down. Describe them. Relate them back to yourself and the things you personally identify with. This gives you the potential opportunity to bridge yourself to your surroundings.
Step 4: Reflect on Your Emotions
As you write, think about how you were feeling when you traveled. Were you excited? Nervous? When did you laugh and when did you cry? How did your emotions affect the experience? How do you feel now as you sit down to write? Are you sad? Scared? Did the trip enhance your current emotions, or transform them into different ones? Find a continuous theme within your trip by connecting it to the emotions you were feeling.
After reliving the feelings, thoughts, and observations of your experience, was there anything that stuck out to you? Was there something that kept coming to mind as you relived this experience? Make connections between what was going on in your head and what was happening around you as you traveled.
Step 5: Omit All Fears
Remove any fear you have of formatting. Don’t force perfection. Just start drafting!
Write down specific, sensory details you remember. Write about your emotions, or the people you observed and met. Let the connections you find flow through you naturally. Allow your travel experience to charge your fingertips.
So, the next time you sit down to face that white void in your Google Docs tab, you will have the power to conquer your writer’s block. I promise you will discover endless ways to incorporate a simple trip into your writing as you ask yourself these questions.
By Bella Hunter
Header image from Leah Newhouse, pexels.com
