Causes of Writer's Block ~ Part I

Call it stalling out, running out of steam, or old fashioned writer's block, that empty spell can become a vicious cycle. The less you're able to write, the more imcompetent you feel.

Identifying the causes of your malaise is a solid first step in moving forward. It also reassures you that such blocks are as much a part of the profession as computer posture. (Which gives us that classy, gnomelike appearance.)

Can you identify with any of these?

• Too tired to concentrate. Consider your own biorhythms and low energy times. If you’re exhausted when you get home from work (a.k.a. your day gig), take time to unwind. Is there an increase in mental energy after dinner? After the kids are in bed? On weekend mornings before anyone else is up? Schedule your writing for the good energy times. Turn off the phone, close the door, and dig in.
  
  If you live alone, you're just as likely to fritter and stall. (Now there's a book title for you!) Here it helps to make writing appointments with yourself, write them in your planner, and honor them as you would any other profession appointment!
  
  
• Your idea is under-developed. Check that theory by going online or to the local library and researching some aspect of your topic. The more you know, the greater the urge to put your ideas on paper. The key to effective research is to amass at least twice as much information as you can use, and select the choicest morsels from that.
  
  It also helps to think about how you would explain your book or article's topic to a friend and makes notes of what you would tell her.
  
  
• You would rather be doing something else during your writing time. Tough it out. Writing is hard work, and you can almost always find some activity that’s more appealing – like mucking out the septic tank or stepping on a rusty bear trap.
  
  A lot of us use the personal carrot method to deal with that. It feels so amazing to read back over a page well written. It gives us a genuine writer's high that only comes from actually writing.
  

Always keep you eye on the gratifying thrill-to-come. It can go a long way towards keeping our fingers moving on the keyboard.

~ Linda

Your Nagging Inner Editor

Speaking of the Editor Within, it can be annoyingly intrusive when you’re writing. It especially doesn’t understand the concept of a first draft. That’s the time you want to be putting ideas down, not fluffing and buffing the prose.

The problem with tinkering as you go is that you lose the creative flow. It’s hard enough to get into it to begin with, much less having to struggle back into that mind set after tweaking every sentence. So we need to stay with it while the ideas pour forth, saving our editing for the end of the article or chapter.

However, subduing the Nag isn’t easy. Most of us recoil from awkward sentences, particularly our own, and have a tough time ignoring them. The trick is to circle anything you see needs work, without thinking about how to fix it, then keep going with the creative flow. At first, you’ll have to fight the urge to make the correction on the spot. You want all of your writing to be pretty – immediately. But gradually you’ll become comfortable with the circle-that-means-later technique.

One caveat here: sometimes the pause to polish a newly written sentence is actually an exercise in procrastination. Stalling happens. But it’s just one more reason to save the editing for later.

For the first draft, dedicate yourself to pushing the words out until they start to tumble forth freely without interruption. Create now ~ tweak later.

~ Linda