I believe that writer’s block is not the disease
but the symptom of something else:
fear.
—Wally Wood
In her wildly humorous and often painful memoir, With or Without You, Domenica “Nikki” Ruta tells us that when her father’s anger turned to violence against her stepmother, Nikki advised her stepmother to leave him.
Her stepmother’s response?
“Well, his TV is on top of my oak bureau and my TV is all the way in the cellar. I can’t lift that thing by myself.”
Yes, it’s the all too common “furniture and fear” syndrome, and unfortunately, writers are not immune. It takes some “heavy lifting” to plunk yourself down (or stand) at your desk and make yourself stay there until you have produced a certain number of words, or at least spent a certain amount of time trying.
Writers are, after all, creative people, and that means we can come up with all sorts of excuses for not writing. Knowing this, and being guilty of same myself, I have gathered some advice that may be of assistance to both you and me.
In her Helping Writers to Become Authors website article “Ten Excuses for Not Writing—And How to Smash Them,” author K.M. Weiland states:
“There are always going to be moments and circumstances that intrude on our writing with an inexorable force we can’t ignore. But, most of the time, the only thing keeping us from our writing is ourselves.”
The question is, how can we writers build up enough self-discipline muscles to accomplish the heavy-lifting task of writing on a regular basis?
Nancy Christie, in her helpful guide Rut-Busting Book for Writers, offers quite a few possibilities for overcoming common excuses such as lack of time, lack of confidence, and fear of failing:
“It’s not about finding more time,” she says, “but about making better use of the time you have.”
She recommends you forget about trying to find large chunks of time and just schedule 30 minutes a day for your writing project. If you average 500 words per day (two standard, double-spaced manuscript pages) for 30 days, you will have written 15,000 words. By so doing, you can turn out a short nonfiction book (which many successful e-books are), two or more short stories, or a novelette in only one month. In three months, you can write a novel. All by using only 30 minutes a day of your precious—and yes, it is precious—time.
To find that elusive 30 minutes per day, Christie recommends getting up half an hour earlier, going to bed half an hour later, cutting half an hour off your TV time, or making use of commuting time (if you’re not driving!). And don’t forget to pay attention to how much time you spend on social media. That may be today’s biggest time waster.
To combat lack of self-confidence, Christie suggests you do a self-analysis of your writing background and upgrade your knowledge or skills if needed. You may also create a success résumé by making a list of writing work that you have done, regardless of whether it has been published. This is to remind you that you are a writer and do have experience in the craft, she says. Other, more fun ideas she offers include using good karma by writing a note to some of your favorite authors telling them how much you enjoyed their books, which just might give them a boost when they are feeling doubt about their own abilities (as all authors do from time to time), and renewing your love of writing by writing about it to remind yourself of what it means to you and how much you enjoy it.
In Freewrite blog article “Writing Habits to Jumpstart Your Creativity and Keep You Focused,” Matt Grant says it’s important to pick the right time of day or night for your writing—that time in the 24-hour cycle when you feel most creative and tend to be most productive—and to be sure to eliminate distractions.
If you find yourself in a rut, Grant suggests a change of venue:
“Often, finding a coffee shop or a nice library, surrounded by books or soothing music, can be a real boon to getting those creative juices flowing again,” he says, adding that even just going for a walk can help clear your head.
In his article “How to Write Every Day” in The Florida Writer, Leo Babauta lists eight things you should do. The most important, he says, is to “have a great reason,” adding that “the rest of this doesn’t matter if you skip this step.”
He also urges his fellow writers to “embrace imperfection.”
Margaret Atwood, no doubt, would agree:
“If I waited for perfection,” she says, “I would never write a word.”
And if you fail to write because you fear that your writing will be a “failure,” just remember Zig Zigler’s famous quote:
“Failure is an event, not a person.”
In the wise words of Ray Bradbury, “You fail only if you stop writing.”
The immortal words of Samuel Beckett advise:
“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
So, what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you writing?
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” said Mark Twain.
“You don’t have to be great to get started,” notes Les Brown, “but you have to get started to be great.”
So, take courage, and don’t let fear or furniture get in the way of your writing.
“Courage is not the absence of fear,” Michael Hyatt reminds us. “Courage is the willingness to act in spite of … fear.”
And according to the ever great Greek philosopher Aristotle:
“He who overcomes his fears will truly be free.”
The way I see it, to be free to write is to be free to be happy.
So, what’s your excuse for not embracing happiness? I know I have many, but with the help of fellow authors like those mentioned above, I will smash them. Will you join me?