AMA About Writing

How do you deal with writer's block?

I used to say that I didn't believe in writer's block. I'd tell people, there's no such thing as plumber's block, so why should writers be any different?

Then a funny thing happened.

I got writer's block.

Bad.

For about a year, I didn't write anything at all. Or, I didn't write anything that was any good. By which I mean, I didn't write anything worth sharing.

I spent days and even weeks looking at blank screens. When I did type something, I'd inevitably come to hate it. It got to the point that the Trash Bin icon on my computer was always full with half-baked ideas for novels and manuscripts that never went anywhere.

So, how did I get beyond my writer's block? Well, before I get to that, I need to share something very personal with you.

My writer's block coincided with my father's death. We were very close. And after losing my father, I just couldn't see the point of writing fiction. Non-fiction was no problem. So, I continued to ghostwrite Op-Eds for my day job. And I even managed to write and publish some creative nonfiction. But making up a story seemed frivolous during that year. 

I went to a therapist, who was quite helpful for grief counseling. But she couldn't help me with my writer's block. Then my wife suggested a goal's coach. I was reluctant at first, but since I wasn't writing any fiction, I figured I had nothing to lose.

As it turns out, my wife was right (she usually is). The more I worked with my goal's coach, the more I realized that self-doubt was my enemy. I wasn't writing because that doubtful voice—you know the one—had become incredibly loud inside my head. The voice was saying things like, your stories aren't important, your stories suck, and, nobody will ever read your stories, so why waste your time writing them? 

Of course, the voice was wrong. But knowing that intellectually, wasn't the same thing as being able to silence the voice when I was writing.

So, how did I beat writer's block?

Well, there's no magic bullet. But knowing that writer's block is really about self-doubt is a good place to start. Specifically, you need to figure out what's driving your doubt. In my case, grief had morphed into a larger existential crisis. Untangling that wasn't easy, but once I was able to see how self-doubt worked against me, I was able to face it head-on. Your self-doubt might come from a different place, but I'm sure it's equally potent. 

So, how do you silence self-doubt?

I set small goals for my writing sessions. Write for twenty minutes a day, that's it. As my goal's coach likes to say, you can show up for anything for twenty minutes.

Of course, twenty minutes is just a starting point. I'd set a timer, turn off the internet, and just allow myself to type without judgment. Sometimes it was agony. Sometimes it was ecstasy. Most times, it was something in between the two. But eventually, it got to the point that I'd regularly go beyond the twenty minutes. And then a funny thing happened...

I was writing again.

Not just writing everyday.

But writing a project that I was really excited about.

A project I was excited to finish. 

A project I wanted people to read. 

A project that had its own voice, one that was loud enough to compete with the self-doubt monster inside my head.

So, is that monster gone?

I wish.

The monster comes back all the time. And he's at his loudest when I'm starting a new project. But knowing how to beat that monster back, and knowing that I have done so in the past, makes writer's block manageable. 

That's I deal with writer's block.

Tell me how you deal with writer's block in the comments: