April 26, 2012 - submitted by Steven, United States of America

Q. Oracle, I really need some guidance. I'm a musician and I've been playing about five years. About two years ago, I could write a song in five minutes. And I'd have fun playing guitar doing it. Now I feel like I've had a writers block that has lasted forever. I really need help to get out of this rut and back writing music. I'm scheduled to start recording next Friday and I have no idea what to do. Please Oracle, any assistance would be great.
Have a nice week!

The Oracle replies:

I don't totally believe in writer's block Steven. I think it means you have nothing to say. The thing about it is, once you can't think what to write you can almost panic causing that period of time to go on longer than it might have. The problem manifests itself as a block if you see it as such.

I think the key is to relax. It may be that you don't think what you write will be good enough. Allow yourself to make crap music too and maybe from there a seed of a great idea will come. It's ok to fail. It's ok to not write. It's ok to take your time. I'd cancel the recording too because that's not going to necessarily help you get back into creating music if you sit doing nothing in the studio.

Once you tell yourself you can't, you most likely can't.
Believe in yourself - take all the pressure off. Try to do a little bit each day without feeling you have to but rather, want to. If you find yourself humming a tune or some ideas pop into your head, record them into your phone or whatever. If they stay just as that for a while, at least you'll have something that may be used again in the future when you get your mojo back.

My last suggestion is that during the next couple of weeks, don't listen to other people's music. If you hear something brilliant, rather than motivate you, it may leave you feeling even more despondent.