I’m sure if you’ve heard anyone talk about writer’s block in the past, one of the first myths you’re going to expect on this list is: “writer’s block exists.” Right? Because typically, people who talk about writer’s block have a rhetoric about it that assumes the presence of creative block is primarily evidence of either (1) lack of motivation/discipline; (2) an “artistic” temperament; or (3) delusion.
This rhetoric is especially bad when it comes from certain personalities of male speakers (not all, but some types) who have high Discipline, Command, Self-Assurance, Consistency, Restorative, Focus, etc, that makes it easy for them to follow their own advice, or certain personalities of people (not only men) who have low Intellection, Empathy, Positivity, Connectedness, Harmony, Woo, Individualization, Context, Input, etc. that makes it hard to understand how people think who might get legitimately blocked on a very regular basis.
You (reading this) might even be one of those people.
So let me be clear at the outset: this is not an attack on people who don’t believe in writer’s block. I understand why they (or you) might believe this. It makes sense to me. When the easiest thing in the world for a person to do is to find daily discipline, or to find a process and stick to it, or to put on blinders and get work done, it makes complete sense that they would believe it was easy for everyone else. In fact, they should believe that. Not just because their personality allows it, but because other people who are wired that way also need those reminders.
I have coached a lot of people in my lifetime who are like this and I genuinely believe they don’t experience writer’s block in the same way that other writers do, and because I know their personality, I know it’s often hard for them to stand in the shoes of other people or understand really how other writers are thinking inside their head. So it makes sense they’re like this, and I don’t want to change them!
I just want to offer a counterpoint to that rhetoric.
So, the first myth is not “writer’s block exists” and those who struggle with that phenomenon will be happy to know… it does exist.
The first myth is:
(1) Waiting for inspiration means you will be waiting forever. This is a phrase that gets tossed around a LOT by people who think writer’s block is a myth. I believe it started with Steven Pressfield’s War of Art, or at least, that’s where it gets attributed to when I hear men speak about writer’s block. I want to be careful to say, as always, that it depends on some internal things as to whether this particular phrase will work to get you unblocked or not, so let’s talk about it.
“Waiting for inspiration.” When I hear speakers discuss this, they talk about “waiting for inspiration” like we’re a waify Victorian woman in her attic, laying on a chaise lounge and eating bonbons. Sort of like, “we have the opportunity to write and we’re just not taking it because we don’t have the gumption.” And if you could just lay around and eat bonbons and never write, then wouldn’t that be the life? Except, for a lot of us, it wouldn’t actually be the life. Because we have too much anxiety that we can’t figure out what comes next in the book, or how to start the book. We don’t enjoy this process, and we certainly aren’t waiting for inspiration because we like not writing.
So there is a swath of personality types that really do need to “wait” for inspiration to strike in terms of whether or not they can sit down and make words come out of their fingers. But if the fear is that we’re going to get addicted to the waiting because the waiting creates stasis or inaction, then I get that. But that’s not what I suggest when “waiters” are experiencing block anyway.
There are a lot of people for whom sitting down to write should be the last thing they do in their process, and not the first. Because they are waiting not for a magic muse to come to them in their attic, but they’re waiting for their brain to finish processing the data that’s churning around upstairs and that process, my friends, cannot be rushed, it can only be endured. There are things we can do to make the process easier. I call these the “incubation” steps.
Every person who is waiting on his/her brain to lead them in the right direction has a “best” thinking/processing activity/location. Some of us need to incubate our thoughts while walking or driving or riding. Some need total quiet and an empty chair and a cup of coffee. Some of us need a shower or the sink of dirty dishes. But those of us who are “waiters” are not waiting for the magic inspiration. We’re waiting for our own brains. And there are things that our brains can do to speed up the process of “inspiration.”
They usually do not include sitting down at the computer. Almost never.
So that’s an important place to start. You might, indeed, be a waiter. Waiting on your own brain to produce the words that you’re going to put on the page. If this is you, find your thoughtful spot (just like Pooh bear) or your thoughtful activity, and do those things instead of sitting and staring at the screen. So important to wait, if you need to wait.
You will not be waiting forever, if you do the work to get yourself unstuck. The work might take time. And it likely won’t be easy. But if you are looking for the thing to unstick you, it will come. It might not be predictable, but it will come.
(2) Writer’s block is an invention of lazy writers (or an excuse not to write). I mean, I’m not saying there is no one out there who is really just a lazy person. What I am saying is, those people are not my (or your) audience. The lazy people who really don’t want to write are not going to be here. They’re probably also not going to be taking hundreds-of-dollars-of-classes to get unstuck. Or if they are, they won’t do the work anyway. But so many of us are worried that we’re secretly lazy when we’re just trying to get the work done. Or, we’re doing other important things with our time that are getting in the way of the writing. (Like, let’s say, having a family… homeschooling your children… having a full-time job… having friends… volunteering your time… having a social life.)
I’m pretty certain that there are hundreds of thousands of people out there for whom the “I should write a book someday” is really just a flight of fancy, and they really are not interested in really writing a book. But even then, I’m not sure it’s laziness that is the culprit. But we often go here.
We often go to “laziness” as the culprit because we think that the negative motivation is going to finally be the thing that will push us over the edge of getting the work done. Yet, how many times have we said that negative thing to ourselves and it hasn’t worked? We still try, though, bless our little hearts.
Here’s the thing. If you are here, you are not a lazy person secretly looking for an excuse not to write. I guarantee it. So stop saying this to yourself. It clearly isn’t working because it isn’t true. Let’s do the work to find the real reason instead.
(3) People who have writer’s block are undisciplined. This one bothers me the most, probably, because the way in which it’s said is usually with a lot of judgmental undertone and sometimes, judgmental overtone. I’ve seen speakers ask their audiences to raise their hands if they’ve ever been in “writer’s block” (which they say with derision) and then proceed to shame those who raised their hands for just not wanting to do the work. I could see the deflation among the hand-raisers. It was painful.
This idea that writing somehow equates to discipline baffles me. Other than those for whom being “disciplined” is a personality trait, the very last thing I would say about writing is that it equates to discipline. In fact, for half the writers I coach (who are extremely successful, by the way), the very last word you would ever use to describe them is disciplined. If anything, they are the waiters. Waiting for inspiration or allowing themselves to be blocked and walk away to think has paid off for them. But it’s never those people who are teaching the classes on writer’s block. It’s always the “discipline” people. And that’s what frustrates me about it.
Discipliners and Waiters are never going to be able to give each other good advice. They are literally having opposite problems. Here’s an example.
I coached a high Discipline writer last week who was struggling so hard with feeling blocked. The more we talked about it, the more I heard the blocks to their Discipline coming up. The old cues weren’t there anymore. They’d been wanting to write for weeks, but every time they woke up to get into their old routine (which had always worked), the cues were completely different. And it was really the first cues that were so different. For that person, all they needed was the quick reminder that they could make new cues and have a new disciplined routine, and they got completely unstuck. A “Waiter” might have talked about the manuscript or the process, but for the Discipline person, it was clearly just the cues to get the work done.
But with a Waiter, their cues might have changed, sure, but what’s different is, are they getting their incubation time? Are they able to have silence or walking or whatever they need to be able to process the story and see the story? Those are the questions to unblock the Waiter. This is a super important distinction, and the whole reason why I am so passionate about fighting through the uncertainty of “It Depends” when it really does depend on how people are wired.
The same advice, given to different people, falls on fertile soil in one, and infertile soil in the other. Because there is no such thing as unilateral advice. It just does not exist.
I mean, clearly, I could go on about these forever. And I really probably could do that. But for now, let me ask you… what are some common phrases you hear thrown around about Writer’s Block? What are things you hear that you want de-mystefied? (If yours ends up in the book, I will put you in the acknowledgments!!) 😊
Hope everyone has a great week! Stay safe out there, y’all…
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