The Two-Rule Recovery

HOW TO GET OUT OF BLOCK AND INTO A DAILY HABIT OF CREATION.

For the majority of my life, every creative I knew existed in one of two states: 1. Inspired and creating! 2. Blocked and silent.

I assumed this was normal until a few years ago, when two small strokes stole all my words. I could no longer wait on the “pattern” to assert itself. My words did not come back on their own, so I faced a choice: give up writing for good, or find a way around.

Creative, this book is the way around.

Involving neuroscience, psychology, and studies from across the globe, the Two-Rule Recovery charts a course that anyone can follow to escape block for good and create a daily habit of creation.

In this book, I’ll break down definitions, identity, and more, tackling many of the issues that left you blocked. Each chapter also includes simple application for you to practice what you’ve learned.

There is hope for you, creative. You are not alone. Join me on this journey, and together, let’s make something new.

The Two-Rule Recovery by Ruthanne Reid — The Sundered, a Novel by Ruthanne Reid

INTRODUCTION: MIDNIGHT OF THE SOUL

I don’t think anyone knows for certain what their breaking point is. Well, in 2020, I found mine: I had two small strokes, and my words were suddenly gone.

I couldn’t remember my address. My phone number. What anything was called. My short-term memory evaporated, and I couldn’t even recall what I’d just seen or read. I could speak, but wrong; I lived in fog, vague, unable to explain what I wanted or why.

It goes without saying that my writing came to a dead stop.

I’d thought writing was my purpose. I’d thought telling stories, providing escape, was my reason to exist. There I was, regardless, staring at the empty page where my stories should be, weeping.

Without question, this was a low creative point, but here’s the funny thing: it wasn’t the first time I’d landed there.

I have written most of my life. I can’t remember a day when I wasn’t spinning tales, wild amalgamations of things I’d read or seen, developing my own bizarre worlds. Even while attending college for piano performance (not my idea, for the record), I didn’t stop, and spent more time writing stories than I did doing homework. The musical pieces I performed best were always the ones I spun stories to, creating soundtracks in my head.

It may sound strange, in light of this, to state that I’ve also been blocked most of my life. I’ve stared at the blank page (without an excuse like having strokes) and had nothing to write, nothing to put down. That block was horrible.

The co-existence of these two conditions is strangely universal. I like to call us geyser creatives. Sometimes, the art flows, the words flood, and what we create matches the vision in our heads.

And then sometimes, it doesn’t. The imagination shutters. The skills dry up, leaving cracked riverbeds and broken hopes behind, and in those moments, we feel like maybe we were fooling ourselves about this whole artist thing.

Every creative I know has experienced both states. Yay, creating, and boo, blocked were simply the two sides of being an artist. Well, when this health crisis hit, I assumed that eventually my writing would return. It always had in the past. My words would come back to me.

This time, they did not.

Creative, I went months with nothing. Nothing. I went so long without putting anything down that I began to feel like a fraud—like I’d inadvertently lied to anyone I’d ever shown my writing to, like I’d been fooling myself and I’d never been a writer, like my parents were right and all my books were flukes.

Creative block is a cruel thief because it steals the ability to create, but never the need. No matter how long we’ve been blocked, we always yearn for what could-have-been, or might-still-be. Our hearts ache for it, even if we ostensibly “give it up” (whatever that means).

Though we go to sleep weeping into our pillows over our lost art, we still wake knowing we are meant to make it. I grieved my unfinished manuscripts, but my thoughts continually drifted to the stories I needed to tell, no matter how many times I tried to stop hoping. Even though I’d given up, I couldn’t give up.

I know you know this feeling. You are reading this book—and that means, no matter how long you’ve been blocked, you’re not ready to give up, either.

Creative, there is hope for you. I’ve gone from complete block to writing every single day, and I have not been blocked since I applied the principles I am going to teach you. How? What changed? My understanding of creation.

There are only two steps to getting unblocked for good. Two steps to beating your creative block forever. Two steps to being the kind of person who can and will make new things every day.

Those two steps are simple. I didn’t say they’re easy. You’ll have to unlearn bad habits, not just learn good ones. You’ll have to train your thinking with new definitions for old words. You’ll have to fight the mindset that got you into this mess, reevaluating what you value and why. You’ll have to face yourself (your greatest foe), and the challenges that come with a consciously shaped identity.

Creative, you can do this. I know you can. I was able to, and I’m literally not firing on all cylinders.

The Two-Rule Recovery is designed so anyone can take these steps at a pace that works for them. I’m sharing them because I want you creating, too. I want you freed from block. I’m one beggar, showing other beggars where to find a feast.

I want you to have hope.

Come with me now, wrap your hope around you like wings, and I’ll show you how this works.