All writers have at least one thing in common: at one time or another our work will stagnate. The writing that once brought joy will feel like a burden. A time like this can feel hopeless and dark, like maybe we were never really writers in the first place and that the story we wrote, the book we published, was just a bit of dumb luck. Some people call this struggle with the page a block, and there's comfort in joining a cohort of blocked writers, dragging our feet through our days waiting for the words to return, for the ideas to start flowing again.
Other writers deny that such blocks exist, but I wonder if this is a matter of semantics. Perhaps these writers interpret their fallow periods differently. What if we, too, started to think about these stretches of time where writing comes hard (or not at all) in another way?
This week, I happened to pick up The World She Edited, a biography of Katharine S. White, an editor for many years at The New Yorker and wife of E.B. White. Within the first few pages of the prologue, the author recounts the encouragement White gave one of her writers.
Is this a comfort for you, too--to realize that there are struggles common to our profession and instruments at hand? And not only common but expected?
The reasons for writer's block are as individual as the writer, and yet the root cause may be found at very nature of our art. Writing is a deeply psychological pursuit. How do you jolt yourself out of the doldrums and get back to the work you feel called to write? Here are a few ideas:
- Write about something that scares you. Write about the thing that you don't want anyone to know. The attendant surge of adrenaline may be all you need to push away your writerly ennui. You can tear it up and burn it immediately after--but I encourage you not to. Those bracing truths often make the best, most searing stories.
- Work on another creative project, something that has nothing to do with writing. Join a choir, take a painting class, audition for a local theater production, explore your city with camera in hand. Encountering the world through a different artistic lens can trigger a profound perspective shift that is certain to benefit your writing.
- Allow yourself the luxury of failure. (Did your shoulders relax reading that?) Realizing that failure is an expected, welcomed part of the process can be the biggest relief to an artist. Your half-baked sentences or hole-riddled plots, the lack of support from people important to you, the hundreds of rejections--these "failures" and more are evidence that you are putting in the work. To me, that looks like success.
Finally, accept that it will take the time it's going to take. Periods of not writing can be fertile ground for rest, discovery, and exploration of new ideas. Of course, if you want to see your work in the world, you have to write it. Only you can know when you need to give yourself grace or push through on the page.
π‘ As a writing coach, one of the things I do for writers is set regular deadlines for new material and provide detailed feedback on the work submitted. This has been enormously helpful for the writers I've worked with to stay on track and meet their writing goals. I have room for one new coaching client starting in January. If this interests you, you can find out more and apply here.
Please note that I currently work with fiction writers. If you are working on a memoir and want to explore coaching, I'm happy to make recommendations! Reply to this email and I'll send you resources.
Recommended Reading
βWhy low-quality print-on-demand books are becoming more common for large publishers--and why it's bad for readers, bookstores, and authors. [Literary Hub]
βJane Friedman offers counter arguments.β
Why are female authors expected to excavate their personal lives to sell a book? Author Emma Gannon considers.β
"One of the biggest mistakes I see in first-person essay submissions is this: The writer has forgotten that the 'I' has to become a character on the page." Meghan O'Rourke offers excellent craft advice for memoirists and essayists.
Wishing you a good writing week ahead,
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