I came across an old post by Seth Godin where he wrote:
No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down.
What a liberating concept! It reminded me of a great book by Joel Saltzman If You Can Talk, You Can Write.
Of course there are times where it feels like the well is dry and that you have “nothing to say.” But that isn’t really true is it? You can sit down with your spouse, your best friend, or your writers group and talk about your lack of inspiration. It is in that expression where you can find the spark of creativity.
The key, of course, is to write something. Anything. Even if it is bad. Kevin J. Anderson suggests you should “dare to be bad and then fix it.”
Still don’t feel like you have anything to say? Just imagine a topic and think of what you would say if asked the question while sitting with a panel of experts. And then write your answer.
[Today’s post came from imagining a panel discussion about “writer’s block.”]
I have one client who held himself accountable by pledging to pay two accountability partners $50 each, for every week he did not hit his pre-determined and promised word count. That is motivation! He only missed his deadline once. (I’m impressed that his friends took the money! A sign of a true accountability partner.)
It would be interesting to hear what you do to get past any sort of “blockage” in your writing life. Please post your thoughts below.
I love this post! What a great way to look at “writer’s block.”
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I’ve been through it so many times that it has stopped being “a book I read” and is now “a resource I go to” when I need motivation, or maybe just a swift kick. You can jump in anywhere, read a few pages, and you’re good to go.
When blocked, I write about what it is I feel blocked to write.
For example: “Today I am trying to write about how my protagonist will get inside the building, since she cannot get caught. The problem I am having is…”
And I just keep going like that until I’ve written about every bit of minutia that I think is the problem. This way I am not only still writing, but I’m writing about the right thing…even if I’m not moving the plot forward.
Oh! And if I think of answers to all those questions along the way, I write about them too, and stick a mark next to those passages, so I can find them later.
Terry Pratchett once said, “There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.”
If I find my self blocked, it’s usually because I’ve lost my enthusiasm for writing. I might be stumped by my current project. if that’s the case, I’ll write something else–explore a new story idea, write a blog post, or free write in my character’s POV on where the story is going next.
Sometimes, it goes deeper than that. I’ve lost my drive to write in general. Then I’ll take a break and read one of my favorite authors. I’ll pick one of their books at random and start reading from a random page. That usually gets me going again.
for the block, I go back to previous inspirations and writings, starting from paragraphs to sentences and then to topics, it could even be a single word. then I begin to expand on them as new thoughts start to pour in.
When I cannot write, I simply edit. Editing leads to writing. Problem solved.
That’s true. And I love the “dare to be bad and fix it” part. I think that is what I needed today. I want to write things but the block is not the writing- it is the inevitable editing. I write everyday but when I think of writing things someone might actually read, I have this editing chokehold that gets me.
As an artist, I get blank canvas block. I look at it and it scares me to death. In my mind, I have to make it perfect. I know what I want to paint or write but it is like trying to reach the high notes you can hear but can never get out of your throat.
Actually, I DO have talker’s block. Many days I have nothing to say, other than to respond. But I can’t originate a conversation, so I don’t.
What I do to overcome writer’s block is to simply write. Something, anything!
It can always be rewritten. The important thing is o maintain the “muscle memory” of writing.
Andrew, I do that, too. Maybe comes from chronic pain? I love that about “muscle memory” of writing. No atrophy.
I didn’t believe in writer’s block, but once, when dealing with major emotional trauma, I had it. I also had house cleaner’s block, driving where I’d intended to go block, and accomplishing anything else block. Fortunately, all those only lasted a few days but they were real.
Two things work for me. Rereading what I’ve already written and fine-tuning as I read gets me in the flow for writing the next part. It also improves both the previously written section and the continuity with the new section.
I also work on two novels at once. When one is not flowing, I work for a while on the other. Then it becomes easy to work on the first again.
I really like the analogy with talker’s block. My husband says I never suffer from that!
I listen to music that I’ve already pegged as “the soundtrack” to my manuscript. It helps evoke images and emotions as to why I thought that particular song went with my piece in the first place.
I love that Michelle. What a great idea—a soundtrack!
Michelle, I do the same thing! I’ll either choose a song that fits as my “soundtrack” or I’ll just set Pandora on “Film Scores” and write away! The soundtrack yesterday was “Love” by Chris Tomlin.