Writer’s block, narrative therapeutic techniques and becoming lost in Mary Robison’s Why Did I Ever

Tansley, L. (2019) Writer’s block, narrative therapeutic techniques and becoming lost in Mary Robison’s Why Did I Ever. Writing in Practice, 5,

Abstract

Recent research in to the psychological impact of the experience of writer’s block confirms its complexity, undermining the romantic notion of suffering for one’s art and highlighting the mental health issues that can often accompany a serious bout. Testimony establishes writer’s block as something that can deeply disturb an author’s sense of identity, disrupting not only a person’s profession but an understanding of a particular sense of self. With this in mind, narrative therapeutic techniques which focus on identity formation and life stories can become a potential source to understand and seek relief from writer’s block. Focusing on Mary Robison’s Why Did I Ever (2001), a text born of Robison’s own block and illustrative in both form and content of the experience of creative and personal blocks, this essay looks to notions of “lost” as a means to connect experiences of writer’s block with narrative therapeutic techniques such as “alternative stories” sought out through Deleuzian “lines of flight” (Walther and Carey 2009). As a mode of disrupting established and unhelpful narrative pathways, ‘lines of flight’ can be understood as a means of straying or seeking out, beyond that which has been prescribed, with identities and selves always becoming as opposed to static or permanent. This, alongside other notions of becoming lost in order to find, begin to formulate ideas for tackling periods of writing inactivity.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tansley, Dr laura
• Authors: Tansley, L.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies
• Journal Name: Writing in Practice
• Publisher: National Association of Writers in Education
• ISSN: 2058-5535
• ISSN (Online): 2058-5535