Headspace

Although I'm certain it's a creative distraction rather than a clinical disorder I have the constant sensation of my head heating up. I feel as if I want to buy a giant helmut shaped ice pack and wear it whilst I write to alleviate the feeling that my head is in the defrost mode of a giant microwave oven. This is a diversion from my internal dialogue that I do not need when I am trying to write for long stretches at a time and it is very frustrating. I may need to go to the Writer's Hospital.

The first writers block exercise which I leave until I'm at the brink of desperation is to choose a lot of disconnected words from an unabridged dictionary. I spend about a half hour randomly opening pages choosing words I like, jotting them down and when I'm done I write a lot of random paragraphs and string them together to make a surreal short story. It's easier than choosing a theme when you're feeling depressed or uninspired and often it can get the ball rolling.

At the moment I'm away from home and I find that just a change of scenery can often be more inspiring, even though I'm just an hour down the road. I now have a list of different places in which I'm going to try to do some writing to see if I'm a bit more productive.

Most of my life I've had vivid dreams which I've been able to remember upon waking and which inspired me creatively but lately I find that I'm having these less often and need something more to ignite my creativity. 

I have turned to the British Cheese Board's "Cheese and Dreams" study which concluded that the amino acid tryptophan in cheese enhanced sleep and that stilton cheese in particular caused bizarre dreams in 85% of the women participants. I had previously considered a trip to Amsterdam to try magic mushrooms but as these are now outlawed I think I may have to settle for the mouldy cheese instead.