Do This To Always Keep Writing, Even When You Think You Can’t Write Anymore
Without removing your brain’s right to protest.
It’s 8 am. Writing time!
(Night owls: It’s 8 pm. Writing time!)
Your desk is nice and tidy. Your laptop is updated and running smoothly. Door is closed. Coffee’s ready.
You aren’t.
The words won’t come out, no matter what. An hour is gone, and you’ve done a much better job staring out the window. The kid from next door dropped a biscuit. A squirrel found it, took it up a tree, and covered it with some twigs and leaves to eat it later. Maybe you can write about that?
You try it. Then delete it, of course. This is ridiculous.
Do not push through
When writer’s block hits, general writing advice says to try as hard as you can to keep going. Just write anything, they say. Even if what you write is ridiculous, just keep your fingers moving. Type anything.
But in truth, that’s like trying to push against a crowd of passionate protesters. It’s probably pointless, and it will backfire.
Because aimless typing when your mind is blocked will probably produce just fluff and garbage. This happens to everyone, even experienced and popular writers. You’ll likely hate what you wrote. Later you’ll delete it anyway. And your time is just too precious for that.
Your mental energy and your time are the most valuable assets you have as a writer. Don’t throw them away. Instead of pushing against the resistance, explore more productive ways to beat the block.
This writer’s block antidote shot my writing through the roof
Here’s a question:
Should you focus on one writing project exclusively until it’s finished, or should you keep multiple projects going and switch?
Writers ask this in forums all the time. The answer ratio is probably somewhere around 60/40, with 60% of writers prefering to work on multiple projects at the same time.
Not too long ago I found myself in the same boat when I was simultaneously working on:
- A non-fiction book for a teen/young adult audience (nearly 200 pages in print)
- A horror story for a Vocal challenge (I didn’t win, but I did write a cracking horror story)
- A short fiction story for the Barn Owl Vocal challenge (I didn’t score there either, but again learned so much)
- Content to fill a client’s brand new website (the founder’s story, their mission, their best projects, future vision, etc.)
On paper, this mix looks like a proper nightmare.
In reality, it was a total lifesaver.
Why? It gave me the option to mindset-match.
It takes a completely different mindset to write horror, reader-specific non-fiction, or compelling content for a paying client.
And that was precisely what saved me. Having the options. I was able to always keep moving my writing forward.
If my mind threw a protest against the website content, I did a quick walk around my park and then switched to the book instead. When the day was too cheerful and sunny to write horror, I worked on the barn owl story.
Surprisingly, the switching didn’t interfere with time itself, and I still met every deadline.
Your brain is human, too
Nobody can actually become a writing machine. Your writing brain is human, too. It catches vibes. It’s stubborn. It’s not always in the mood. Sometimes, it gets downright pissed off.
But it likes options.
So, swap general writing advice for a connection with your own (awesome) writing mind and its moods. David B. Clear makes an excellent point about this in The Problem With Generic Writing Advice. (By the way, have you seen his cartoons? They’re first-rate.)
You can’t force your mind into a state it doesn’t want to be in.
Luckily, all those moods, and mind protests, and the various kinds of unexpected or weird days you may have, they all work — for different topics.
Open options will keep you writing.
Work on a few ongoing article drafts simultaneously, ideally contrasting in topic, interest, style, genre, or platform.
Do this, and you’ll find you can always meet your mind halfway.
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