Rick Killian
First of all, I don't really believe in writer's block. As Seth Godin once said, "No one gets 'talker's block.'" We can always put words to paper as easily as we can make up answers to questions from imagination alone. The problem isn't continuing to write, it's that we feel what we are going to say next isn't worth writing down. Every writer has encountered that.
Such impasses aren't a block; they're a clue from the universe that you need to dig deeper, start from another angle, head back to do more research, or even just write down your stupidity for now so that you can go back and refine it later. The way I usually handle this is to "free write" somewhere outside of the Word doc I'm using as the manuscript for the book I'm working on. I go to a yellow pad, Evernote, my Bullet Journal, even just open a new word doc and start typing new ideas. Or I go back to reading a book I'm using as research. (It's best to not start googling things on the internet for research, however. That particular way of activating your brain tends to just lead to web surfing, not back to writing.)
It's like grappling around for the next firm handhold to climb up a mountain—or something like that. It's groping in the dark for a thought that inspires you enough to start writing again. And the instant you have that, open up that Word doc and start plugging away again. If that's stale, the reboot again out of the document and follow the same procedure again.
The myth of "writer's block" is just another clever way Resistance (see The War of Art by Steven Pressfield if you don't know what that is) rears its ugly head to keep you from "the work" your soul is calling you to create. The answer is to find a way to do the work until the work is good enough to share, not to fall for the lie: "But I just don't have anything to write! I'm blocked!" Press on, give yourself permission to write incomplete thoughts you will complete later, or what you think the answer is now so that when you find our that your wrong, you'll know what to delete and rewrite. Give yourself permission to wander and experiment, whether that takes minutes or days. So many times I've found myself casting about for answers for a few empty writing hours to come back fresh one day and just have things flow. The biggest key is not to quit.
I hope that helps. Let me know?
Such impasses aren't a block; they're a clue from the universe that you need to dig deeper, start from another angle, head back to do more research, or even just write down your stupidity for now so that you can go back and refine it later. The way I usually handle this is to "free write" somewhere outside of the Word doc I'm using as the manuscript for the book I'm working on. I go to a yellow pad, Evernote, my Bullet Journal, even just open a new word doc and start typing new ideas. Or I go back to reading a book I'm using as research. (It's best to not start googling things on the internet for research, however. That particular way of activating your brain tends to just lead to web surfing, not back to writing.)
It's like grappling around for the next firm handhold to climb up a mountain—or something like that. It's groping in the dark for a thought that inspires you enough to start writing again. And the instant you have that, open up that Word doc and start plugging away again. If that's stale, the reboot again out of the document and follow the same procedure again.
The myth of "writer's block" is just another clever way Resistance (see The War of Art by Steven Pressfield if you don't know what that is) rears its ugly head to keep you from "the work" your soul is calling you to create. The answer is to find a way to do the work until the work is good enough to share, not to fall for the lie: "But I just don't have anything to write! I'm blocked!" Press on, give yourself permission to write incomplete thoughts you will complete later, or what you think the answer is now so that when you find our that your wrong, you'll know what to delete and rewrite. Give yourself permission to wander and experiment, whether that takes minutes or days. So many times I've found myself casting about for answers for a few empty writing hours to come back fresh one day and just have things flow. The biggest key is not to quit.
I hope that helps. Let me know?
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