How to overcome a creative block: Use the lite version

When I went to college, my parents bought me a new MacBook. At the campus computer store, the salesperson told us I would need some additional software. Namely, Microsoft Office Suite. I remember my dad grimacing as he pulled out his credit card to pay for the computer and the software. 

When I got to my dorm room, I got my laptop set up, and started installing the software. They still had startup discs in 2012, and my laptop still had a slot to take a CD. I popped it in and installed Microsoft Word. 

Pretty soon into my first semester, papers started getting assigned. I was prepared. Not because I had done all of the reading, but because I had Microsoft Word. I remember the loading window that popped up when I launched Word, and the slightly louder hum my laptop made when I launched that program. 

Then I got stuck. Maybe it was because I hadn’t quite done all the reading. But it was also because whenever Microsoft Word launched, I felt that whatever I was writing next had better be good. Word was a such a robust program, that could format anything any which way, and I felt a little intimidated by it. I would write a lackluster sentence, and then delete it, feeling like it wasn’t good enough for a college paper, and it wasn’t good enough for Microsoft Word. 

Meanwhile, I wrote songs and poems and journal entries in my composition notebook. The notebook cost $2, and it didn’t have any loading time. My handwriting was bad. And the words just flowed. I wrote some of my best lines and most profound ideas in this cheap notebook. When it filled up, I bought another one. There was nothing intimidating about a composition notebook.

Pretty soon, I saw what was happening. My dad would probably grimace some more if he read this, but after my freshman year, I never used Microsoft Word again. I wrote everything in Apple’s Text Edit program, which isn’t really even a word processor at all. It exists to strip formatting from words you copy from other sources. You can hit enter, and tab, and that’s about it. And every time I opened Text Edit, the words just flowed. 

Now, I’m writing my first book in Apple Notes. Not Apple Pages. Not Microsoft Word. Not Google Docs. I’m writing it in a flimsy little grocery list app: Apple Notes. It takes the pressure off, and it keeps things simple. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, or if you’re up against a creative block, it might be because of the invisible audience. You have an imaginary audience, with imaginary critics in the front row, in a grand stadium called “Microsoft Word Stadium.” None of that exists. Just crack open the lite version and make something. Your creativity will start flowing once again.