Someone on Twitter just added that in sports this is called The Yips, and shared this link to a podcast episode. So interesting! Definitely worth a listen https://overcast.fm/+d4CzzzskI
That’s interesting, Summer. I think the various explanations really make sense! I also have a theory about pushing out of writers block from my career in journalism. When you write for a living on deadline, you cannot keep your job when you have writers block. You just have to finish your story no matter what. I often tell writers I’m working with: if you have feel blocked, you probably aren’t clear exactly on what you’re trying to say. The answer: go back to your research and your notebook. Re-read your notes, make a chapter outline, read a related article, get your facts/details/imaginings on track. If you take a break from the writing document and get straight what you’re trying to say, you will absolutely go back to your screen (whether it’s one day later or one month) with words ready to find their way on the page. I often do the same thing now when I’m writing my novels. If I’m feeling like I don’t know where to go next, I go to my notebook and sketch out some thoughts. Then return to my story later. It really helps me! Just some food for thought. Loved your post! Xo
My block is always that moment at the foot of the trail looking up at a steep elevation gain that seems to go on forever. The desire to abandon the plan, a deep deep reluctance to commit. I know how arduous and draining it will be to get the thing done. I have to trick myself into hiking just to that view in the bend, a little way up, see how it goes... Once I'm in, I'm good.
Thanks for this masterclass. Reading all of your replies, very helpful. I like to call it Writer's Glitch, that helps me, a block feels too solid, impenetrable A glitch feels more temporary, short-lived, the words are just around the corner. My answer to most writing glitches: Walk the dog, read, listen to music, go to a museum, take in a film or theatre, walk the dog, read...you get it. Often my subconscious will speak to me while I'm in motion, not sitting staring at a blank page. And reading/viewing other great work helps, of any genre, especially multiple genres. Also, I try not to beat up on myself. Usually, the reservoir is just empty and needs permission (and patience) to fill back up.
Thank you for this, Summer. I love that you've identified the different ways writers feel blocked. I think I suffer most often from a combination of rust and wrong turns when I'm working on a novel, combined with perfectionism when the novel is on contract and I feel that sense of nervousness that the publisher won't like it! I've often referred to this state as "writer's fatigue," but your breakdown of the different things holding us back is more helpful because it makes me think about how each one of these problems can be addressed. Thank you!
When I was employed as a data analyst, I sometimes got "analyst's block." Similar to writer's block, it would usually happen when I was overworked or interrupted, all the different things you mention in your essay. The best thing I could do was to walk away, literally go outside if the weather was nice or just gaze out a window if it wasn't. Your breakdown of writer's block fits nicely with all the problems I had with analyst's block. Fortunately, I'm no longer a data analyst :-) Feeling blocked is a real thing, regardless of one's profession.
The great John Steinbeck would begin each of his professional writing days by writing letters to friends or politicians or celebrities or to anyone whose address he could acquire, it would seem. He did it as a warmup exercise for sharpening the fine motor skills of the brain before dulling the tips of 24 Backwing pencils (per day) while writing his epic novels. More interestingly, when he’d finished writing each day’s letter, he’d read a few pages from some classic literature he’d keep on his writing desk, close the cover, and begin his day’s writing.
While stealing everything I can from Steinbeck except his gold teeth, I came up with a similar process to begin my writing day (when I have a deadline), and I discovered it’s a fantastic cure for writer’s block. I put on my headphones and I listen to the same song over and over again. Which song? Whichever song moves me and motivates me and excites me. If one song isn’t working, I’ll try another. When I have the right song, I use the power, the emotion I’m feeling from the song to inspire me to write—but not my day’s writing. Not yet.
First, I write about the song. I try to put into words what the singer or the musicians or the character in the song is feeling, as expressed through what I’m feeling. Maybe I invent a character or I invent something about the singer, but there are no rules and I can have as much fun as a like. I call myself an Art Thief, because I steal the power of the music for own work.
After I’ve listened to the song ten or maybe thirty times, and I’ve written ten or maybe thirty pages, I close the page and turn to my real writing. It doesn’t always result in a productive writing session, and sometimes I can’t find the right song, but it when it works, it’s very cool. From Steinbeck to Stairway to Heaven, I’ve stolen from everyone I love.
I am definitely an over researcher but even if I don't manage to put in everything I uncovered on a particular subject, it helps me structure what I do want to say on the subject.
You're absolutely right about the different forms of writer's block, and I look forward to your thoughts on how to get over them.
I think that writer's block is only one type of obstruction that writers and other creative people face, and I'm so interested in all of the reasons why we might end up writing less than we want that I've devoted my entire Substack to it. Indeed, this morning I published a post about how my writer's block was so bad in 2016 that I had to Jedi mind trick myself into getting my writing mojo back by spending time crafting instead.
I hope that by sharing some of my own experiences, I can not just start to unpick what's going on but also help to take away some of the stigma around writer's block. People get blocked for all sorts of reasons, and they're all legit and none of them are anything to be ashamed of. And the more we collectively talk about it, the better.
I am a poster child for Finishers Block. I published three novels with Harlequin in the early 2000s and then my line closed and I jumped into magazine editorial. I left magazines 10 years ago for leave-it-at-the-office day jobs. I since have 60 percent of Novel A, 40 percent of Novel B (which is now a hybrid memoir?), at least 10 to 20 pages each of C through H and am now working on a big women's fiction and a Christmas novella. The worse part is I am a pantser but also have the compulsion to fix wrong turns as I go.
Salespeople actually do have that kind of a slump, all the time, Summer. No change in actions, no change in habits, but BAM - people stop buying, for all kinds of reasons. And for most salespersons, who rely on commissions from sales for their wages, it's a terrifying & extremely frustrating events when it occurs, much like writer's block.
Someone on Twitter just added that in sports this is called The Yips, and shared this link to a podcast episode. So interesting! Definitely worth a listen https://overcast.fm/+d4CzzzskI
“Of course it’s all in your head, but unfortunately so is your book.”
That’s interesting, Summer. I think the various explanations really make sense! I also have a theory about pushing out of writers block from my career in journalism. When you write for a living on deadline, you cannot keep your job when you have writers block. You just have to finish your story no matter what. I often tell writers I’m working with: if you have feel blocked, you probably aren’t clear exactly on what you’re trying to say. The answer: go back to your research and your notebook. Re-read your notes, make a chapter outline, read a related article, get your facts/details/imaginings on track. If you take a break from the writing document and get straight what you’re trying to say, you will absolutely go back to your screen (whether it’s one day later or one month) with words ready to find their way on the page. I often do the same thing now when I’m writing my novels. If I’m feeling like I don’t know where to go next, I go to my notebook and sketch out some thoughts. Then return to my story later. It really helps me! Just some food for thought. Loved your post! Xo
My block is always that moment at the foot of the trail looking up at a steep elevation gain that seems to go on forever. The desire to abandon the plan, a deep deep reluctance to commit. I know how arduous and draining it will be to get the thing done. I have to trick myself into hiking just to that view in the bend, a little way up, see how it goes... Once I'm in, I'm good.
Thanks for this masterclass. Reading all of your replies, very helpful. I like to call it Writer's Glitch, that helps me, a block feels too solid, impenetrable A glitch feels more temporary, short-lived, the words are just around the corner. My answer to most writing glitches: Walk the dog, read, listen to music, go to a museum, take in a film or theatre, walk the dog, read...you get it. Often my subconscious will speak to me while I'm in motion, not sitting staring at a blank page. And reading/viewing other great work helps, of any genre, especially multiple genres. Also, I try not to beat up on myself. Usually, the reservoir is just empty and needs permission (and patience) to fill back up.
This may be one of my favorite things that I’ve read on your Substack. It’s so relatable.
I have been thinking that age and circumstance have turned my brain to gravy permanently. But perhaps there is still hope, thanks!
I haven’t read it in a very long time, but it strikes me that perhaps Willy Loman had shoe salesman block.
Thank you for this, Summer. I love that you've identified the different ways writers feel blocked. I think I suffer most often from a combination of rust and wrong turns when I'm working on a novel, combined with perfectionism when the novel is on contract and I feel that sense of nervousness that the publisher won't like it! I've often referred to this state as "writer's fatigue," but your breakdown of the different things holding us back is more helpful because it makes me think about how each one of these problems can be addressed. Thank you!
When I was employed as a data analyst, I sometimes got "analyst's block." Similar to writer's block, it would usually happen when I was overworked or interrupted, all the different things you mention in your essay. The best thing I could do was to walk away, literally go outside if the weather was nice or just gaze out a window if it wasn't. Your breakdown of writer's block fits nicely with all the problems I had with analyst's block. Fortunately, I'm no longer a data analyst :-) Feeling blocked is a real thing, regardless of one's profession.
The great John Steinbeck would begin each of his professional writing days by writing letters to friends or politicians or celebrities or to anyone whose address he could acquire, it would seem. He did it as a warmup exercise for sharpening the fine motor skills of the brain before dulling the tips of 24 Backwing pencils (per day) while writing his epic novels. More interestingly, when he’d finished writing each day’s letter, he’d read a few pages from some classic literature he’d keep on his writing desk, close the cover, and begin his day’s writing.
While stealing everything I can from Steinbeck except his gold teeth, I came up with a similar process to begin my writing day (when I have a deadline), and I discovered it’s a fantastic cure for writer’s block. I put on my headphones and I listen to the same song over and over again. Which song? Whichever song moves me and motivates me and excites me. If one song isn’t working, I’ll try another. When I have the right song, I use the power, the emotion I’m feeling from the song to inspire me to write—but not my day’s writing. Not yet.
First, I write about the song. I try to put into words what the singer or the musicians or the character in the song is feeling, as expressed through what I’m feeling. Maybe I invent a character or I invent something about the singer, but there are no rules and I can have as much fun as a like. I call myself an Art Thief, because I steal the power of the music for own work.
After I’ve listened to the song ten or maybe thirty times, and I’ve written ten or maybe thirty pages, I close the page and turn to my real writing. It doesn’t always result in a productive writing session, and sometimes I can’t find the right song, but it when it works, it’s very cool. From Steinbeck to Stairway to Heaven, I’ve stolen from everyone I love.
I am definitely an over researcher but even if I don't manage to put in everything I uncovered on a particular subject, it helps me structure what I do want to say on the subject.
A field guide to being broken .... and human.
You're absolutely right about the different forms of writer's block, and I look forward to your thoughts on how to get over them.
I think that writer's block is only one type of obstruction that writers and other creative people face, and I'm so interested in all of the reasons why we might end up writing less than we want that I've devoted my entire Substack to it. Indeed, this morning I published a post about how my writer's block was so bad in 2016 that I had to Jedi mind trick myself into getting my writing mojo back by spending time crafting instead.
https://suwca.substack.com/p/the-year-i-jedi-mind-tricked-myself
I hope that by sharing some of my own experiences, I can not just start to unpick what's going on but also help to take away some of the stigma around writer's block. People get blocked for all sorts of reasons, and they're all legit and none of them are anything to be ashamed of. And the more we collectively talk about it, the better.
I am a poster child for Finishers Block. I published three novels with Harlequin in the early 2000s and then my line closed and I jumped into magazine editorial. I left magazines 10 years ago for leave-it-at-the-office day jobs. I since have 60 percent of Novel A, 40 percent of Novel B (which is now a hybrid memoir?), at least 10 to 20 pages each of C through H and am now working on a big women's fiction and a Christmas novella. The worse part is I am a pantser but also have the compulsion to fix wrong turns as I go.
Salespeople actually do have that kind of a slump, all the time, Summer. No change in actions, no change in habits, but BAM - people stop buying, for all kinds of reasons. And for most salespersons, who rely on commissions from sales for their wages, it's a terrifying & extremely frustrating events when it occurs, much like writer's block.
Love that you broke writer's block so thoroughly.
May it not darken your door again.