On overcoming creative blocks

I wrote my last two artist statements in the swimming pool. 

Stroke after stroke, words that refused to come to me before seemed to just appear in my head and form into sentences and then paragraphs and all I had to do is hold onto them long enough to write them down once I was done with my exercise and back in the changing room.

When I’m driving, I am able to come up with innovative marketing ideas for my photography business. I stopped listening to music when I’m alone in the car, and let my brain whirr away in the background, sorting through everything I know and arriving at the best solution as I my conscious mind is busy navigating roads and traffic.

Clearly, the trick - for me at least - to overcoming a creative block is to take a break, get away from the computer (where, truth be told, I do spend most of my time), and let the silence do its thing. 

But getting away from my desk isn’t always enough. Other ways I’ve found to unblock myself are:

* Looking at other people's work. There’s truly nothing new under the sun, so I learned not to worry too much about finding inspiration in those who came before me (this is very different from plagiarising someone else’s work). As Austin Kleon says in his book “Steal Like an Artist”, “the challenge is not to avoid influence, it’s to find your own voice while you’re being influenced." Sometimes thought, looking up how others have tackled a similar topic can block me off from actually finding my own way, so I'm always trying to strike the right balance with this one.

* Talking about my work with others - whether they are my peers or a mentor. The very act of trying to present an idea or a work in progress series to people is inching my work forward, as I try to simplify concepts and ideas that are buzzing, unsorted, in my head. The feedback or ideas I get from others is just a nice bonus - it's the act of presenting it that makes all the difference for me. 

* Just make stuff and get into the state of flow if I can - that means working on one thing for an extended stretch of time, rather than switching from one task to another. "The only way to deal with a creative block is to start creating” says Elizabeth Gilbert in “Big Magic”. If that doesn’t work, I go create something else - or clean the house and dig up my garden. I discovered through trial and error that the best way for me to operate is to have several projects on the go, and if ideas - or willing participants - for one of them dry up I can switch to working on another. It also ensures I’m not getting bored working on just one thing and drop it completely, which has been known to happen.

How do you overcome creative blocks? Do share them with me in the comments.