We’re breaking into spooky October (my favorite time of year) with tackling one of writer’s scariest foes: writer’s block. Many authors struggle with this, but like many shadowy monsters, the idea of the beast is worse than the actual creature. We are often asked how we, as professionals, beat writer’s block. Well, frankly, we can’t afford to have writer’s block. That is quite the motivating factor when you get right down to it. But many first time and starting-out authors will have long periods of time where they are working without it being their primary job. Watch the video or keep reading below for ways you can also break through that inner resistance, beat writer’s block, and make that progress.
Sometimes when you don’t know how to start, it can stall your dreams for months, even years. We have helped so many writers not only get started, but see the project through the very end! We have created a great free resource to help you make a plan to finally tell the story that lives in your heart. Download the free Memoir Method Checklist today to get started.
Identify Why You Feel Blocked
Writer’s block may be a nightmare, but like other nightmares it lives in your head. There are many reasons why we might feel blocked in our writing process, and understanding where that feeling is coming from can really help you beat writer’s block. It can be so hard to power through a long and difficult (and sometimes exhausting!) writing process when you don’t have the external support to encourage and motivate you along the way. In previous posts, we have talked about the importance of finding a community of support for your writing. This can be an important step to avoid writer’s block, but sometimes, even with the best cheerleader’s in our corner, we can still feel like something’s in the way. It can become something we dread to feel, that first moment we sit down and just can’t make the words come.
Many of the tricks below can help you in that moment, but it’s also important to do a bit of soul searching. More likely than not, it’s not something external standing in your way. It’s not because you can’t do it or the story isn’t there and worthy of being told. Writer’s block is often when our minds and self-doubt make little obstacles feel enormous. Sometimes part of beating writers block is to just get through today, then tomorrow, and then you have two days of data that proves you can beat writer’s block. So let’s dive in and explore some things you can do today if you’re feeling blocked.
Revisit Your Prewriting
If you’re familiar with our blogs, you know that we are definitely planners when it comes to writing. No shade to “pantsers” who can make it work, but from our experience, most writers who feel blocked or unable to get started and keep going don’t have that clear plan and that is a big part of what’s holding them back. If you’re not sure what today’s writing goal is, then how can you meet it?
To beat writer’s block, we often want to go back to that outline. If you don’t have an outline at all, then it’s time to make one! We’ve talked about the importance and different strategies of outlining before, so if you’re finding yourself stuck because you have no plan, take the time to pause the drafting to go back and make one!
If you do have any outline, but are still struggling, then you can revisit it to see what in your outline might need some tweaking. You might find you stepped off the path of your outline along the way, and that’s fine! Making a plan doesn’t mean you failed the moment you stop following it, it just means you need to take stock and replan from this point on. Taking a writing session to iron out kinks in your outline that have sprung up along the way is time well spent!
Take the pressure off and put away the perfectionism
Sometimes what is standing in our way is our own perfectionism. You have high standards for your story, that’s great! But it probably not come out the first time through meeting that high standard. Often we can become daunted by the size and scope of the process, especially when we only have 5-8 hours a week to really dedicate to it. The enormous pressure we can put on ourselves to make that time “count” by making it perfect and smooth right out of the box can do exactly the opposite by stopping us dead still.
If you know the piece you need to work on today, but not how to make it *perfect* then open a document and entitle it something that gives you permission to just get some thoughts out, knowing it’s not in good shape yet. I like to have a word document and get very specific with the title, something like “conversation about apples.” I know this conversation should happen somewhere in the section I’m working on today, but not how I am going to transition in or out or where in the chapter it should come, so I’m going to have it completely floating and separate so I can plug it in when I’m ready for it. Often, when I’ve gotten into the writing, the answers to how it fits comes together naturally.
If you’re like Amanda, you can title your document something like “Garbage” or “Trash notes” in order to give that permission to let go of perfectionism. (If this seems uncharacteristically mean, keep in mind Amanda’s cat is also named Garbage. You can be light-hearted and affectionate to your writing, no matter what stage it’s in!)
Change your environment
Writing is not easy; it takes a lot of mental energy. It’s important to find a working environment that works with your style and mindset. Sometimes this means a very quiet secluded place, or sometimes this means with somewhere with a bit of bustle and noise to give you something to tune out. Personally, I find changing this up rather often is actually what is key for me, especially considering what other work I’ve been doing of a week. Treat it like an experiment. It doesn’t have to be huge changes, even finding a new Spotify playlist or taking your laptop to a different spot in the house can be enough to shift you out of that blocked mode.
Change your medium
Like changing our environment or the way we save a digital file, we can also beat writer’s block by switching up our medium. Try switching your device or writing by hand. There is a lot of science that suggests writing by hand is beneficial to creativity and to memory. There’s something about the tactile practice of pen to paper that can access our thoughts in new and freeing ways.
Writing by long hand can also give you a bit of mini-prewriting session. I will often begin sessions by taking a chapter that is my target for the day and do a mini-outline by hand. Writing lines and images as they come to me, even if they’re incomplete fragments. Once it starts coming out too fast for my hands to keep up, I go to the keyboard until I get stalled, then go back to the pen.
If you’re resistant to writing by long hand because it means you’ll need to type it up later–remember that no matter what form you’re getting that first draft out with, it’s going to have to be revised. You’re going to need to go through each sentence, and one way to do that is to revise as you type it from rough draft to final. If your resistance is coming from a place where you feel like you need to do this so efficiently that you can’t waste a minute writing a sentence that isn’t going to make it into your draft, that will just keep you frozen. It’s not going to come out perfect, so just let it come out in whatever way it can.
Beat writer’s block with a writing timer
One of the methods that is really popular in our memoir method program and that anyone can do–no matter how little time you have to spare for your writing today–is the writing timer. Set a timer for 20 minutes. While that timer is going, you have to be writing, whether it’s by hand, typing, or going back and forth. It doesn’t have to be good; it can even start by whining about how you don’t want to start. Most of us can’t keep up the whining for a whole 20 minutes, so we’ll get into writing what we’re really supposed to be working on of a day. Once we’ve gotten into that mode where we’re finally adding up those words, it’s also easy to keep the ball rolling. If, after 20 minutes, you’re still struggling, take a break and then come back to your outlining and prewriting.
Pick the fun thing
This is my favorite tip and the one that helps me the most, especially when I’m switching from one project to the next or trying to dig down into my creative mode. This is sort of the opposite of eating the frog, which is the advice that you want to do the hardest thing that you’re avoiding the most first. When you have your plan in place and you know what chapter you’re going to be working on this week, pick the part of that chapter that would be the most fun for you to tackle in that moment.
This doesn’t necessarily mean a funny or light scene. If you’re feeling frustrated, it might in fact be more fun to write the angry scene. If you’re feeling low, it might not be fun exactly to write the emotionally heavy scene, but it can feel cathartic to channel that low feeling into that emotional scene. When you pick where to start the work based on what you want to express and how you feel, (and not necessarily by what feels most “efficient”) the words can start coming out easier (and better!)
Visualize what it will feel like to be done
When you feel that dread creeping up because it’s time to write and you are not sure you’re feeling up to it, try to imagine what it will feel like to have done it.
We don’t mean jump forward to that publishing stage. That can actually have the opposite of the intended effect, because the distance between you and that published and polished book might feel too big and that can get us down.
Fast forward not months, but hours. How will it feel when you’ve gotten your words in for the day? At the end of the week, when you’ve got another not-perfect but actually-pretty-good chapter under your belt, how will that feel?
It will feel probably a lot better than the heavy dread you might feel before you start. And definitely a lot better than the guilt if you don’t start at all. That feeling isn’t a hundred miles away–it’s just a few hundred words. You can do it.
Happy Writing!
