Goodreads asked Dan Needles:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Dan Needles The trick for me is to recognize which of two things are going on: subconscious processing or premature critiquing.

In the case of subconscious processing it is all about loving yourself and trusting the process. In this case I my muse the space it needs to manifest what it can.

In the case of premature critiquing it really is fear based - that is I am afraid that what is in my head won't look so good on paper. The block isn't for ideas but the fear of manifesting them into reality because reality is finite and cannot contain everything, much less communicate it properly. But that is life. That is, when I turn off the judgement and kick my butt a bit to get going, the words flow no problem.

As a side note, the premature judgement is compounded by ADHD. ADHD is less about attention deficient and more about inability to tune attention. The hardest component of "tuning" is willing movement. Like most people in IT (about 80% have some spectrum disorder) I've learned a number of coping skills that work great to overcome the "inability to will the self."

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