Repeat After Me: There's No Such Thing as Writer's Block

New and old writers alike are often stopped in their tracks at the mention of The Demon Writer's Block™. Every time they have a hard time writing, they fear it's the beginning of The Demon Writer's Block™ and that their writing career is effectively over.

I once claimed that I had The Demon Writer's Block™ for six years. SIX YEARS! And it's true that for roughly six years I didn't really write anything. But that wasn't The Demon Writer's Block™. It was due to other factors, including that I just wasn't putting in the effort. It's that whole BIC (Butt In Chair) strategy that I just didn't get at that time.

Now, just because there's no such thing as The Demon Writer's Block™ doesn't mean that there aren't reasons why you're having a hard time writing (or why you can't write at all). But we've built The Demon Writer's Block™ up into this mythical being, a metaphorical demon binding our hands, preventing us from getting anything done at all. And that's not the case. In fact, there are two relatively mundane things that contribute to so-called "writer's block". Both are, more or less, manageable once you're aware that they exist.

So, what are these two all-powerful things that can control our writing productivity (if we let them)?

Simple: STRESS and FEAR.

Stress

Stress is my own personal Demon Writer's Block™. If I'm stressed out, I have very little chance of writing anything productive, or anything at all. That's what that six year stretch of "writer's block" was for me. I was working crazy hours for part of that time, my then-boyfriend (now-husband) and I were completely broke for most of that time (between one or the other of us either being unemployed or part-time employed, through trying to start a business, and then through the process of buying a house when we had absolutely no disposable income), I got married during that time (wedding planning stress is hell if you've never been through it; also, I wouldn't recommend it, elope while you still can!!!), and I had a love-hate relationship with at least one of my jobs during that time.

Basically, I was stressed to the point of tears on a regular basis. Of course I couldn't write anything. I was too worried about how I'd pay my bills, what house we were going to buy, where we wanted to live, what wedding dress I wanted, and the list goes on.

But here's the thing: stress is mostly manageable, except in the most extreme circumstances. If you recognize that you need to de-stress in order to write, then you can take steps to do so. Maybe you need to meditate or do yoga before you write. Or maybe you need to get out of your house and go somewhere quiet and private. Maybe you need to kick your significant other and/or your kids out of the house for one evening or afternoon each week to have some alone-time to write. Or maybe you need to exercise before you write and get those endorphins flowing. Whatever works for you is fine.

The point here is that stress is not The Demon Writer's Block™. It's stress (which could be considered a demon in its own right). A part of just about everyone's lives, and something we have to learn to deal with as productive adults. And before anyone jumps on me for saying "it's just stress", realize that I used to have issues with severe anxiety (the kind that causes panic attacks and makes you feel like you've gone absolutely bat-shit crazy), so I've dealt with extreme stress. Again, it's something you can learn to manage.

Fear

Fear is the more troubling of the two causes for "writer's block", because it's often a lot harder to overcome. It's harder to even pinpoint as a source. Fear can creep in when you least expect it and absolutely paralyze you. And it comes in a few different varieties, which each affect different people.

There's the "I'm never going to be good enough" fear (also known as the "I-SUCK-I-SUCK-I-SUCK" fear). This is the fear that what you're about to write isn't going to be very good. In fact, it's going to be so bad that not even your own mother would love it. Here's the thing about this kind of fear: you're probably right. But that's okay. Give yourself permission to write crap. This is especially true with a first draft, and especially true if you're new to this whole writing thing. You're going to have to write a lot of crap to get to the good stuff. I've been writing fiction solidly for about three years now (not counting all the dabbling I'd done before this), and I still write a lot of crap. Stephen King's been at this for decades and I bet he'd tell you that a lot of what he writes is still crap, at least on the first draft level (though some people would probably argue at any level—I'm not one of them). Once you've given yourself permission to write crap and get out of your own way, you might be surprised by some of the gems you end up writing.

Even if you overcome this in the writing stage, it's likely to rear its ugly head again once you start getting some success. Then you start to worry that you're really just a hack and that people were being nice because you were new. The fear of not just sucking, but of publicly sucking, can be even more paralyzing. You know what? You're probably going to get bad reviews. At least once. You can't please everyone. If you're happy with what you've written, then (excuse my language) fuck 'em.

There's the "No one's going to take me seriously" fear (AKA the "They're all going to laugh at me" fear). It sucks when the people in your life don't support what you're doing. But a lot of the time, the reason they don't support you for going after your dreams is because they're too afraid to go after their own. They're jealous of you for doing something that they might only have dreamed about. This is why so many writers opt not to tell anyone they know about their writing until they've gained some level of success. Don't ever let anyone else's opinion stop you from doing what you want to do. Realize that it's their own insecurities that cause them to criticize you.

The two fears above can often team up to really stop you in your tracks. You worry that you're not good enough and so no one is going to take you seriously. They'll laugh at you because you suck. You'll never get published, your writing will rot in a desk drawer until eternity, and someday they'll unearth it and use it as a cultural study for how stupid and illiterate ancient humans were. Well, think of it this way: if that happens your writing will have achieved what most authors dream of. Immortality and enduring fame! There's not much you can do about how other's perceive your work. What you can do, though, is keep writing, keep getting better, and decide for yourself, based on your own criteria, whether your writing is good or not. And to make yourself feel better about your own writing skills, just go read Twilight or a Dan Brown novel. (Sorry, I know cheap shots at other writers are distasteful, and I realize that both of those obviously appeal to a large group of readers, but I'm trying to make people feel better here! And I hereby give you permission to go read my writing and say it sucks if it makes you feel better about your own writing, though I would ask that you don't do so publicly on Amazon.)

The fear of "I'm too old for this" or "I have too many responsibilities" or "I'm neglecting my kids if I take time to write". All of these are ridiculous. No one says you have to quit your day job and become a full-time aspiring novelist (in fact, I'll be the first to tell you not to do that). No one says you have to shirk your responsibilities to write. And no one says you have to ignore your kids to find time to write. Even if all you do is write for fifteen minutes each day, that's something. In fifteen minutes, you can probably write between 250 and 500 words minimum (I can do 800-1,000 in that time if I'm really in the groove of my story). If you can manage 500 words every day, then it will take you less than 6 months to write a first draft. At 250 words per day it'll take you less than a year. So find that 15 minutes every day and write. Try to find an afternoon once in awhile to really focus on your writing and get four or five times your usual word count.

A special note to the "I'm too old for this" crowd: YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER. You'll never again be as young as you are now. Writing is the great equalizer. No one who reads your writing ever needs to know how old you are unless you choose to reveal it. You could be 17 or 70. And honestly, no one cares how old you are if what you've written is good. Think about how much more life experience you're bringing to the table compared to someone who's only in their 20s or 30s. Are you really going to look back in ten or fifteen years and say to yourself, "I never should have tried that writing thing. I was just too damn old," ? I doubt it.

There are other fears out there, and most of it comes down to our insecurities about who we are and our place in the world. But find a way to overcome them and stop letting them control what dreams you go after.

So there you have it. The two main things that we mistake for The Demon Writer's Block™. I'm sure some of you would argue that regardless of the cause, it's still "writer's block". I disagree. We need to stop giving these important-sounding names to things as mundane and common as fear and stress. By making it out to be more than it really is, we're giving power to writer's block and stopping ourselves from doing what we want to do. So stop giving in to fear and stress, stop calling them The Demon Writer's Block™ when in reality they're emotions that every person on earth has to deal with on a regular basis, and find a way to get through them!