Smashing through writer’s block! However you define it, every author has suffered from ‘writer’s block.’ It’s that malady, feeling, sensation that there’s simply nothing more to write. Regardless of where you are in the story, or the book, you simply can’t think of what to put down next.
It has caused just about every beginning writer to give up in frustration. First you hesitate, then you doubt, then you’re certain you have nothing to write and before too long, you’re proving it to yourself.
First, realize that every writer encounters writer’s block. It’s not a problem with you, it’s a problem with your process. You’ve written what you want to write and when you get to the end of that road, well, you’ve reached the end of that road!
It isn’t that you CAN’T think of what next to write, it’s simply that you never had any idea of what next to write.
If you’ve got writer’s block, it’s because you have no idea what happens next in your story. If you had sorted that out before you began, you’d be creating page after page of perfect prose and be amazed at how quickly the time goes by (and how productive you have become).
So, if you’re facing writer’s block right now, here’s the solution. Realize that you don’t know what’s going to happen next in your story and create that outline. I’m willing to bet a penny you don’t even have a written outline. Or, if you do, it stops at just about the same place as writer’s block starts.
If you haven’t started writing yet, then please, please, please, create your outline first. Spend the necessary time to outline your work in as much detail as possible. The minutes you spend outlining your book will save hours of frustration and stalled activity later on.
Ideally, you want to outline your work so you know exactly what is happening on every page of the work before you even begin. Nothing is left to chance, nothing is left to those muses, and nothing is left for that demon we call ‘inspiration.’
By the way, as long as we’ve mentioned inspiration, I want you to know that inspiration should never be a component of your writing arsenal. You write because you’re a writer. Because you want to benefit people. Because it’s what you’ve got to do. You don’t write because you’re inspired. Can you think of any profession that operates only when inspiration hits?
“Sorry lady, I can’t fix your plumbing today, I’m not inspired.”
“I’m not coming into the office today, boss, sorry, no inspiration.”
“Love to remove that cancerous growth from you today, Mr. Jeffries, but, well, I’m not feeling particularly inspired.”
Anyway, back to writer’s block. If you know exactly what will be happening on every page, then writer’s block simply can’t help but evaporate, or never show up in the first place.
Spend your time on the outline and realize that a good outline, even if it’s not the most glamorous thin to produce, will make writing a breeze. Even an enjoyable activity.
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