Writers Block

Those two words are powerful enough to strike fear into even the most experienced of writers. But do you know what? I’ve recently come to believe it is merely a figment of our over-active imaginations. It’s what we’re good at after all.

As writers, we bare our souls on the page, putting everything we have into that beautifully crafted, tortured piece of writing and then hope it makes sense to anyone else but ourselves. The writer’s ego is a fragile thing. We never think we’re good enough, what we write is carp (deliberate misspelling for the ladies and gentlemen out there), and everyone else is better than us. This kind of negative thinking is what starts us on the slippery slope towards writer’s block. If you allow this into your writing, before you know it, you’re at the bottom of that slide, trying to scramble like mad to the top again. Why waste all that energy getting back to where you were when you can avoid getting there in the first place?

I admit – I’m a master procrastinator. I’ve often spent days (or weeks, she mumbles in shame) avoiding the computer and my current WIP. But why? I love to write. It’s a need, a burning hole in me when I’m not doing it, so why is it so hard to buckle down and put the words on paper sometimes? What is my problem? Then the answer came and I was shocked at the truth. I was scared. I’d let my insecurities get in the way of what I loved to do, so the joy fled, leaving doubt in its place. Furious I’d allowed negativity get the better of me, I determined to turn the corner and get my writing back on track and so far so good.

Here’s what’s working for me:

• Get into a routine.I cannot emphasis this enough.
• Make yourself a coffee or have a shower to relax before starting.
• Remember WHY you write and really enjoy the creative process. No-one else can write this story but you.
• DON’T edit as you go. Read back just enough of your last entry to familiarise yourself and get the flow of the story going again.
• Try and write a scene at each sitting.
• Get the story down, but don’t get waylaid in fine details. They can always be added in later when you’re at the ‘fleshing out’ stage.
• Acknowledge you will have bad days, but even then, make sure to sit down and work on your manuscript, even if it’s just adding a sentence. Sometimes that one sentence can bring a fresh focus and release the flood-gates.
• Allow yourself to write carp. Any writing is better than a blank page – and you can always delete.
• Get a good critique partner and brainstorm any problem areas. Even if you don’t use the ideas from a brainstorming session, just getting a fresh perspective on a story can help open the imagination to new possibilities. 

    Good luck, keep enjoying what you do, and anything is possible.

LaVerne has published a book "Guardian of the Jewel" through Wild Rose Press.  Check out her blog at Novel Natterings.