How to Write Daily, Even if You’re Out of Ideas, Wisdom, or Genius

A little strategy from John McPhee

Today is one of those days. Most mornings I always have something to say. Today, the words come out hard. This problem sparked an idea and now I’ve got something to say.

What happens when you’re stuck?

I don’t believe in writer’s block. Like the Santa and the Easter Bunny, writers block is a soft, comforting blanket around-which writers can blame their current stuck-ness.

But writer’s block is not a thing.

If you’re creative for any length of time, you won’t have every perfect day in a row. In fact, most days won’t be perfect. We’re bombarded with distraction. We live in our heads to do our best work. Our best work requires a flow-state.

We know we should write every day.

This keeps the ideas flowing so they don’t stall. Daily writing adds to a prolific body of work, and trains us to persevere — beyond our willpower and (what Steven Pressfield calls) the Resistance.

I don’t get stuck often, but when I do I drink Dos Equis.

Seriously, being stuck is a thing. While temporary, stuck-ness can bring you down fast. I’m having a down-day myself. When you’re stuck you start to question your abilities. You wonder why the hell you started writing, and nothing looks good on the page.

…well it happens to all writers.

Even Pulitzer Prize-winning John McPhee. The only author who can write an entire page-turner about oranges (I swear everything the man writes, is gold).

McPhee gets stuck too.

He’s got a little technique he uses to get himself un-stuck.

McPhee writes a letter to his grandmother. Let’s say he needs to write about cars today. He’ll start a “Dear Grandma…” letter, complaining how he’s stuck. That he can’t think of anything to write — and how all he needs to do is come up with a few paragraphs about cars.

…how they changed the landscape and the environment.

…how expensive they are.

…how we attach our identity to the cars we drive etc.

Then, McPhee says, [paraphrased] “all you do is take out the “Dear Grandma parts and all the whining. You’ve got yourself a first draft.”

While I didn’t write to my grandmother for this one (and left all the whining in tact), there’s a lot to be said about sitting and doing the work.

Writing is a blue-collar vocation.

It’s not fancy. Writing can be ugly and cruel. There are real stakes. Readers can be brutal. Writers must create something from nothing, and have that something be worth reading once it’s done.

There’s a lot of pressure in writing.

But one way to keep that pressure at bay, is through the permanent habit of daily writing. We writer whether we want to or not. Whether the unicorn tapped on the window… and whether or not the wind is right.

We don’t write when we feel like it.

We get down to business.

Brain surgeons don’t have brain-surgeon-block.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got more whining to do.

We’re waiting for you.

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August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches these folks who want to make work that sells and sell work they make. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.