Volume 15, Number 27
May 5, 2009



Click, to go back to the contents of this issue

This Week




We appreciate feedback from our readers
Browse through the collecton of older issues



From the Gallery of My Mind

alev dešimUnplug Your Imagination!

It was extremely hard for me to find something to write about for this week's column. I spent several hours looking at Facebook, and all over the Internet, but nothing struck me as interesting at all. There seemed to be nothing new or worth mentioning. This raises a question in my mind: Will we come to a time where no one can invent or find anything new?

It seems quite impossible that this will ever happen given what appears to be the endless imagination of the human mind. Still, the idea gets me thinking. Imagine technology, fashion, art, etc. never advancing from this point on. It sounds like a dull world where the word “new” would change meaning. I can picture it all in my mind: people wearing the same thing over and over again and using the same cell phones and computers. No new games would be made; just the same old ones would be reproduced. Would everyone be depressed and feel like robots?

A world with no ideas: This is what writer's block feels like. Looking blankly at a white page for hours, even days, feeling as though there is nothing left to write. Realistically, however, there are always new ideas, and if youcan’t of anythingwhile writing  an essay or paper here are some tips to help you find your way out of the dilemma.
One of my professor's told me that a good way to fight writers block is to keep a journal, writing about anything that comes to your mind first thing in the morning. This exercise is called “The Morning Pages” (originally introduced in Julia Cameron's book “The Artist's Way”). You do not stop and look back at what you wrote. You simply keep going until you have filled one whole page. You have to do this every day without skipping. It will help you start recovering your creativity.

Cameron also mentions that there are "poisonous playmates" around us that actually help create this block. I'm going to quote from her book because she said it very nicely:

“Not surprisingly, the most poisonous playmates for us as recovering ‘creatives’ are people whose creativity is still blocked. Our recovery threatens them. Do not expect your blocked friends to applaud your recovery. That's like expecting your best friend from the bar to celebrate your sobriety.”

Of course there are many other ways to deal with the problem of writers block. But these might help you along the way so that you CAN produce something new.

I fare you well for now…

Alev Dešim (COMD/IV)
contactinspector@yahoo.com



Click, to go back to the contents of this issue








Bilkent News Welcomes Feedback From Readers.
This newsletter will print letters received from readers.
Please submit your letters to bilnews@bilkent.edu.tr
or to the Communications Unit, Engineering Building, room EG-23, ext. 1487.
The Editorial Board will review the letters and print according to available space.