The Myth of Writer’s Block
I stared at my laptop for ten minutes before realizing there wasn’t one word typed on the screen. Instead, my mind had drifted off to my mental checklist of things to do before the weekend. Refocusing on the blank screen, I shook my head, chastising myself, “Get something down, girl–anything.”
Why was this so hard?
During other writing sessions, I can have a rough draft of a blog post or a book chapter tapped out in thirty minutes. Today, and–realistically–over the past several days, I have lacked even a morsel of creative inspiration or focus.
I was obviously in the throes of a full-blown case of writer’s block.
No, that’s not true.
I don’t actually believe writer’s block is a legit ailment. (Don’t be mad at me!) Allow me to present a scenario: The boss walks into the staff innovation meeting and announces, “Time to get down to business, folks. We’ve got twelve hours to push out a catchy 3-5 sentence advertisement. The first of you to submit a decent one to me before that time will be given a $500 bonus.”
Uh, huh. Got your attention, right?
You wouldn’t fuss over what it sounded like or how “catchy” it was (that can be edited and tidied up later). You would hustle out the words–any words–to compete for that $500.
There’s something about the pressure of a deadline that removes the convenience of analyzing and dissecting every word. Many full-time authors say that they do not have the leisure of having writer’s block because they have bills to pay and deadlines to meet.
I’m not making this up. I have typed whole paragraphs in my manuscripts while nodding off through most of it because I was exhausted. Sure, I might’ve gotten a good chuckle reviewing it the next day, but I have also had some pretty creative stuff come out of the experience. Probably because I wasn’t feeling the pressure; I was merely trying to get my word count in for the day and the magic happened.
Enough said. The moral of the lesson is to stop scrutinizing your work to death. Just put words down.
Do the thing.
Analyze later.
In the words of Jodi Picoult, prolific author of over 26 novels:
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
You’re welcome. 🙂
So, are you ready to write now? Read “You Want to Be a Writer?“