Writer’s Block - Managing those pesky writer’s blues

I don’t believe in writer’s block.

Every day I ever sat down to write, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. I always sit down sweaty-palmed, wondering if I’ll be able to get a word on paper.

That’s why I believe writer’s block is another way of saying “fear”. And it’s just another excuse for not pushing through it.

I find the process a little easier if I can spare half an hour the evening before. I reread the last page or so of what I wrote last time. Then I meditate – I’m not the world’s greatest meditator, but it helps sometimes, even for just 10 or 20 minutes.

Just as good is going for a run or a long walk. When I’ve finished, I find that my mind’s been playing around with what I last wrote.

Writing always starts slowly in the morning, but be patient with yourself. Sometimes, usually after an hour or two of writing, it can actually fly – perhaps you know the feeling. Those euphoric days when the words seem to stream through you.

But we all have days when that empty screen mocks us, and every word written feels like we’re plodding through a swamp. Those are the days when you think: “Hell, I’m wasting my time here. Perhaps I should do something a little more constructive, like … finding lost tupperware lids.”

Whatever you do – don’t do that. It becomes that much easier not to write the next day, and the day after. You procrastinate and think you’ll never, ever write again.

Make yourself a cup of something hot, and sit down again. Force yourself to sit staring at the screen. Write a word, and then a second, even if it’s like squeezing blood from your fingertips. Keep writing, one word at a time. Keep staring.

Some days you’ll plod through your writing time. Push yourself through the hard bits.

What I have found is that, when you go back to them later, you can’t see the difference between the flying and the plodding days. Sometimes I even find the plodding days read better. You’ve been slower, taken more care.

There’s another thing that freezes writing – the need to make it absolutely perfect. The self-consciousness we feel when we allow part of ourselves to sit mockingly on our shoulders.

Banish that self. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t think about being published. Don’t worry about what other people will think. Just think about finishing.
You can fix almost anything at the editing phase. But if you don’t finish, there’ll be nothing to fix.

For more about the writing life and writer’s block, see our online writing courses.

Jo-Anne Richards is the author of four novels. Her latest is My Brother’s Book, published by Picador. Order it from Kalahari.net

Her first novel, The Innocence of Roast Chicken, was published by Headline in London, shortlisted for the M-Net Book Prize and nominated for the Impac International Dublin Award. The book was chosen as a Dillon’s Debut in the UK, to be showcased as “an outstanding first novel”. She has published short stories in five collections.

She lectures in journalism and writing skills at Wits University, besides running workshops in literary skills, narrative journalism and Romance writing. She supervises Masters students in the Creative Writing Masters programme at Wits.

She is co-founder of allaboutlove.net, a website dedicated to good reading and writing. The site publishes novels and short stories, and runs interactive online writing courses in romance writing. It includes a basic lesbian romance writing course – thought to be unique.