Have you ever had writer’s block? Have you ever wondered what causes it?
You know the feeling. It happens to me sometimes.
I sit at the computer screen, staring at it, trying to type. I enter a sentence. No, that won’t work. Delete. Then another, and another. The words that normally flow so easily refuse to make the leap from brain to screen. For more, see Bird by Bird. That first page of a book is the hardest page of all. Some days I’d rather have teeth pulled without Novocaine.
On a normal day, I write between 5,000 and 10,000 words, depending on other commitments. That’s 10,000 publishable words. Once in a while, my productivity crashes and I spend a whole day producing a thousand words. It’s frustrating. Since I make my living writing, if it continues it creates financial problems.
What Does Writer’s Block Feel Like?
Every path ends in a very clean kitchen.
You know you can write, but you can’t make it happen.Share on X
Writer’s block shows up in different ways at different times. For me, it hits hardest when I have a tight deadline. That’s when I feel the familiar anxiety deep in my stomach. I hate it more than almost anything else in this job, because the deadline keeps moving closer whether the words show up or not, and the panic about the deadline makes the block worse.
- You feel blank. You want to write, but nothing comes to mind.
- You feel sad, anxious, tired, or depressed. The words won’t come.
- There’s a crushing sense of frustration and uselessness.
- Sometimes it feels like an itch you can’t scratch. You know you can write, but you can’t make it happen.
- You feel self-doubt. Have you ever been able to write? Was it all luck?
- It feels like emptiness.
Watch: How to Overcome Writer's Block Once and For All, Jerry B. Jenkins
What Causes Writer’s Block?
Writer’s block has many causes. I’ve written 113+ books and I still run into every one of the ones that kill my productivity. Anybody who tells you experienced writers don’t get blocked has either been lucky or isn’t telling you the whole story.
- Idiots: Have you ever received a negative comment disguised as something positive? These passive-aggressive jabs can do real damage. A snide remark, unsolicited “help,” or a few rude comments can torpedo your momentum and stop the words cold.
- Failures: A failure outside of writing can block the words. Anything that causes grief, fear, or terror seems to stop the creative flow. I write best when I’m enthusiastic about life or the subject. A recent failure can definitely cause writer’s block.
- Information not understood: As a ghostwriter and technical writer, I often work with subjects I don’t fully understand. Not comprehending the material stops me dead.
- Illness – Something about throwing up makes it hard to write.
- Screen fatigue: Writing is introverting by nature. Sitting in front of a computer all day creates a hypnotic effect, headaches, stomach pain, and other problems. After a few hours at the screen, my writing jams up and the words refuse to flow.
- Lack of interest: Have you tried to write about something you don’t care about? I’ve written over a hundred technical manuals. Some were exciting. Others were dry and technical. I’ve written large manuals I knew no one would ever read, produced only for legal reasons. There’s more in my interview with fantasy author Suzanna Linton. It’s hard to stay motivated when you’re writing a hundred thousand words destined to collect dust on a shelf.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
How do I get past writer’s block? Most of the advice out there is useless, written by people who seem to think a scented candle and a positive attitude will do the job. The techniques that work are a lot less pretty than that.
- Set a quota: Setting a daily goal, say 5,000 words, motivates me to keep the words flowing. It becomes a game: can I hit the quota today despite all the interruptions?
- Write every day: Sitting down to write every single day matters. Even when I only have an hour due to other plans, I squeeze in time to write a blog post, finish a letter to the editor, or reply to emails.
- Protect your writing time: I set aside dedicated writing time every day. I plan other events around it.
- Handle confusion immediately: Not understanding the material is one of my biggest blocks. Google is essential for research. The online dictionary helps too. One caution: Wikipedia is often inaccurate. I’ve blocked it from my Google searches.
- Get up and move: Every hour or so I get out of the chair and walk around. I check the mail, vacuum, dust, or just watch the bees buzzing on my deck.
- Switch projects: I always have several writing projects going at once. When I’m blocked on one, I switch to another. Pick something completely different. This frees up brain cells and gets the words flowing again.
Beating Writer’s Block
No matter the cause, writer’s block can be handled. The best solution is the simplest: just start writing and keep writing, no matter what. Write your heart out. Before long, the words will flow again.
I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration, and I think telling blocked writers to wait for it is some of the most damaging advice in the business. Block feeds on the gap between sitting down and producing something, and the only thing that closes that gap is words on the page, however bad the first ones are.
Anthony Trollope held a full-time job with the British Post Office and still wrote 47 novels. According to his Autobiography, he was at his desk by 5:30 every morning, and he paid an old servant extra to wake him with coffee. He wrote “with my watch before me,” and he required from himself “250 words every quarter of an hour.” He said the words came as regularly as the watch ran, and he finished his writing for the day before he dressed for breakfast.
He dismissed writers who sat around waiting to feel inspired. He wrote that a shoemaker who waited for inspiration would be no more absurd. According to The New Criterion, his frank account of that clockwork method hurt his standing with literary critics, who preferred their novelists to look mysterious.
I think the critics had it backward. A man who owes the page 250 words before the minute hand comes around doesn’t have time to sit and wait for a mood, and a blocked writer today can borrow his watch and his quota for nothing.
For more on writer’s block, see these articles:
- The 10 Types of Writer’s Block (and How to Overcome Them)
- How to Overcome Writer’s Block: 14 Tricks That Work
- How to Overcome Writer’s Block Once and for All
