Carving Away Writer’s Block 🗣
Getting through writers' block without banging your head against it
Recently, a friend and editing client emailed and said she was having trouble writing and revising. She wrote: “The writing seems wooden and labored and the premise stupid. I want to believe that I can make the plot and characters deep and interesting but I’m super discouraged. I need a little boost.…Perhaps a few encouraging words that I can reread when a chapter feels stale after reading it so many times. This is just my usual creative doldrums of self doubt which hits regularly because that’s the process.”
This person is an artist and a writer. She understands that creating magic is work—sometimes thrilling work that makes us feel ecstatic and sometimes miserable work that makes us feeling like banging our heads against the wall. We have to coach ourselves through feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing about our writing almost every day. Here is the list of suggestions that will get you back to writing, slowly, gently and lovingly, without worrying too much about the outcome. We went into this because we love to write. Let yourselves feel that love again.
1) Take it outside. If you feel like you've done as much as you can on a chapter/story/essay/paragraph, but it still needs work, put it aside for a few days or hours. Go for a walk, run or a swim and bring your phone. Any ideas that fly into your head about the chapter, immediately write down (get out of the pool if you have to!) I find that exercising in fresh air helps stimulate creativity and problem solving like nothing else. I always take my phone with me when I run.
2) Talk to yourself. Read the chapter out loud and listen for what makes it holy (sacred and wonderful!) and holey (problematic.) Sometimes, the problems solve themselves when you read a chapter or even just a few paragraphs out loud. And reading aloud allows yourself to hear again those lovely, beautiful lines you forgot you wrote in the first place.
3) Keep it simple and small (KISS).My grandfather used to say, “Keep it simple, stupid.” He was a math teacher and stock broker but the acronym applies to writing too. Keep it small. Keep it simple. Don't think about the entire project. Think about the pleasure you take in writing. Break it down into manageable pieces. Tell yourself you are going to write 1,000 words a day, no more, no less (or whatever a reasonable word count is). Or tell yourself you're going to write for only 1 hour a day or 15 minutes a day. Set boundaries around your writing time so it feels precious and limited. Don't give yourself all day to solve a writing problem.
4) Know this. Your writing isn't wooden, it's lyrical and funny. Your ideas aren’t stupid and derivative, they’re original and insightful. You show great insights into your characters and know them well. You love them in all their weirdness. They are developing and individuated. Your plot is clever and relevant. People love your writing. You love it too. Remind yourself of that..
5) Ask for help. You know this already. Ask a friend or writing ally to cheer you on.
6) Other art. Listen to a song you love or look at a piece of artwork you admire and know how hard that artist worked to get it right. We flip, flop, we start again, we plow ahead. Artists are always falling down, scraping their knees, and picking themselves up again. Nothing about creating is easy, except making the cup of tea or coffee you drink to get started.
7) Always be a beginner. If this paragraph, this chapter, this book, feels too hard to write, start writing something brand new. It may go nowhere or it may become something different and wonderful, but it will allow you to unhinge yourself from the expectations you've placed on yourself and who knows? It may become your next great project after you finish this one.
8) Set up a creative kitchen. I always think about writing the way I think about making Thanksgiving dinner. The big meat (your big project) is in the oven. But you're not just going to eat that. Get to work on the sides too, the food you make on the stovetop, the stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes and gravy, the Brussel sprouts and chocolate pudding, so you have other things to focus on while the turkey cooks. These "sides" can be short stories, poems, beginnings of essays, a new painting, something small that is easier to complete than the master project you’re working on.
9 Finish what you started. That’s what Hemingway told Fitzgerald and he was right.
10) Garden and tend to the animals: I find the planting, cutting and arranging of flowers to be helpful activities to breakthrough creative lulls. Sweeping outside and grooming animals too.
