Rigid Rules

    What exactly is writer's block? To me, it's the point in my writing when my brain comes to a freeze. During this freeze, I am unable to finish my thoughts, put them together, or even generate a good sentence. I am either not thinking enough, or over thinking to the point my brain can't translate the information into formal writing. Writer's block is a frustrating thing. I find myself in a pattern of writing and erasing until I finally give up and decide to walk away from the piece. This is something that challenges me often, and I have certain tactics that I try to take to over come this obstacle.
    The way Rose thinks of writer's block is quite similar to the idea that I have of it. In the first paragraph, Rose describes it as a "frustrating, self defeating inability to generate the next line, the next phrase, the sentence that will release the flow of words once again." Personally, I could not agree more. Writer's block is indeed frustrating, but once your thoughts start flowing again it is a great relief. In the end of the first paragraph, Rose also claims that the result of writer's block often leads to late papers, and bad grades that do not reflect the students true ability. Both Rose, and I both believe this to be true. I have had my own experiences with writer block and sometimes I can over come it, but some I can not.
    According to Rose, there are a certain amount of rigid rules that cause writer's block. He states that these rules are "occasionally instilled by the composition teacher or gleaned from the writing textbook."(Rose 393). In his discoveries, he's came up with main rigid rules that students use. The first rule he introduces is that the beginning is the most important part because you must catch the attention of your audience. This leads many students to become fixated on making the beginning perfect. Some also believe that if the beginning is good, then the rest will be too. Aside from that, the next rule he states is about too complex outlines. The student would take days making sure her outline was good and full of ideas, but the ideas were so complex she could not make a short story out of it. One also felt like they needed three points for the writing to be considerable. In addition, some believe that a paper must portray irony, imagery and ideas. This may leave a student stuck if they can not find or create these three items. Another rigid rule is over preparation. One student planned his strategy ahead and when it didn't work out, he had a lot trouble adjusting to a new plan. But other then that, you could also be stuck on deciding what rules need to be used and when. Personally, I can relate to all of these rules. My biggest problem I struggle with is also the beginning of my writing. I was always taught that the first sentence/paragraph should grab the readers attention and leave them wanting more. This was a personal struggle for me because I often would over think and stumble over ideas. These rules are considered rigid because all of the students have trouble adapting to a new way of writing from the what they were taught. This causes the students trouble because they have these rules in their brain like concrete and they are unable to adjust to new ideas/ways of writing.
     Rose believes that all of these rules can be manipulated in the students brain and they can learn to over come them. He states, "dysfunctional rules are easily replaced with or counter-balanced by functional ones.."(Rose 400) Also, at the end of the last paragraph, he includes that the students may benefit from tutorials that explore their writing behaviors. I believe that in order to over come a difficulty like the rules these students are fixated on takes time, practice, and patients. First, you must identify with what is causing your writer's block. Then, you should search for other strategies to use to over come the struggle. Once you find something that may work for you, practice with it. If you are patient with yourself, you may not be as stressed. Therefor, you can use more positive energy into your writing and let the creative juices flow through your paper.