Although not knowing about what topic to write does not happen to me very often, it does happen — despite the plethora of topics pertaining to travel which can be addressed — and this condition is known as writer’s block.
Writer’s Block and
I am certainly not the only person who has experienced this phenomenon, as demonstrated by at least three other writers at BoardingArea.
“So, when I don’t write for a while, it might be because I’m traveling (you would think a travel writer would have this writing-while-traveling thing down, wouldn’t you?)”, Kat Starr wrote in this article at Will Run For Miles. “It might be because I’m overwhelmed, perplexed, have brain freeze, brain melt, am having computer issues (I just bought a new home computer so that should help), have new or additional responsibilities at work (oh right… work!), am ambivalent and can’t find anything I wish to share at the moment (as I try to only write posts I myself would be interested in reading). I have a lot of half-written posts that I sometimes have difficulty finishing. But these are all mainly silly excuses (or perhaps it’s healthy to just shut down once in a while?)”
Greg Davis-Kean offered a different perspective: “Every deal, big or small, takes time and mental focus”, he explains in this article at Frequent Miler pertaining to how too many topics about which to write can cause his brain to explode — and how to prevent that from happening. “OK, maybe your brain won’t literally explode, but sometimes it feels that way to me.” He goes on to say that “Most deals require multiple steps, spread out over time. Many require follow up: Did the portal track my purchase correctly? Did Amex credit my account for that Amex Sync offer? Every one of these deals adds a bit of stress to my life. There’s always a mental cost — not just to understand the deal in the first place, but rather the ongoing weight of participation. For each deal, there is work to do, usually followed by a feeling that something might have been missed or forgotten. Did I use the right credit card? Did I use up that gift card before filing it away? Have I maxed out the bonus spend on this offer yet? I have until XYZ date to complete this other deal — will I remember? Did I setup reminders in my calendar?”
Jeff Sauer was simply “having trouble finding the mental bandwidth to post today, so I just wanted to share a photo that makes me happy.” He did not write much else in this article which he wrote at Jeffsetter. Perhaps I should do something similar and post an article with little more than a photograph which I took that I would like to show without having to write much about it.
Summary
I have no fewer than 64 drafts of articles which I have started but have not yet completed — some of which are trip reports and reviews, which could contain as many as 70 photographs; and I try to write something after each one of them — plus many more articles which I have not yet started to write. Even still, at times, I simply do not feel like writing about them or anything else.
With much of travel having shut down due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, there are not many topics about which to write — and yet, there are also too many topics about which to write. Either way, the task of merely writing an article can be daunting, because I prefer to usually back up what I write by citing reliable sources — and my head can sometimes spin from all of the information which is out there.
Anyway, the point of this article is
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
