We’ve all heard of “Writer’s Block.” It’s frustrating, depressing, and discouraging. It is usually defined as a temporary period in which a writer is unable to write. For most people, one of the main symptoms is a blank mind. You want to write, your schedule has been cleared for writing, you sit down with the intention of writing, then… your mind goes blank. Without words, without thoughts, without directions, go into your head.
As tragic as it sounds, some of us have a different roadblock when it comes to writing. I refer to this element as a “writers snippet”. When you suffer from problems with writers, the ideas are not the problem, but doing something about them. The easiest way to detect if you have a chunk or a block is that you still have ideas. You can visualize what your character is wearing, you can hear what they are thinking. You may even be thinking two or three chapters ahead. So if you have all these wonderful ideas, why not do something about them?
Procrastination has killed more dreams than all wars, illnesses, and disabilities combined. It starts out pretty simple. What is that part of a wagon called? It’s time for Google, wow, it’s not a children’s car… I want a western car. OK, covered wagon makes more sense. History of the covered wagon? No, I want car parts. Two and a half hours later you have dozens of photos, videos and even a DIY blueprint for how to build your own covered wagon, but you haven’t written a word.
Of course, that’s just one example, but you can also put off writing until after you go to lunch, go to the gym, or change your clothes. If you’re not writing the way you want, it could be as simple as keeping everything else a priority. The solution is not to buy another writing book or take another writing course or search for motivational speakers on YouTube. The answer is written. Now, before you get upset and say, “duh, if I could do that, I wouldn’t have a problem,” let me clarify that statement.
The answer to writers block AND writers chunk is to form the habit of writing. This can be done in four easy steps.
The first step – set a time. When all my children were still at home, I realized that if I wanted to do something for myself, the best time was before they woke up. What works for me may not work for you, but to create this new habit you need to set a time with the fewest excuses for you to do anything else.
The second step – set a word count. This may seem like you’re limiting yourself, but this is a starting point. When I first tried NaNoWriMo camp, I set a daily goal of a thousand words a day. I did fine for a couple of days, then I only did 500 words a day, then I skipped a couple of days. Eventually, I wrote 250 words and thought “what’s the point? I’ll never catch up.”
If procrastination is the number one inspiration killer for writers, the second biggest evil to avoid is depression and discouragement.
It took me a while to figure this out, but even at just 250 words a day, it’s still a page a day or 365 pages a year. My last book, once published, was only 285 pages long. Which means I can still edit almost a third of my work later. The point is don’t set your sights on what Stephen King can do, make your words count. (No pun intended). Once you get into the habit, you can always increase your goal later.
The third step – learn to write. The other bad habit that I and many others share is the tendency to edit as I write. For creating this habit, DO NOT edit! If I write 250 words and edit as I write, I might only end up with an extra 140 words. I’m making the goal twice as difficult as it needs to be and I’m setting myself up for failure. Related to that, when you write 250 words, treat yourself. To avoid diabetes, I suggest that it be something other than food. Even if you only meet part of your word count, something is better than nothing. Give yourself credit for everything you accomplish. Save the “edit” for a different habit.
The fourth step – repeat with praise. Now you’re going to write 250 easy words a day (no stress), at 7:00 am (or whatever works for you) every day, and…give yourself credit. Ideally, you want to start for 30 days, but if you can only do it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that’s still a plus. The key here is to recognize what you achieve, not focus on what you don’t. Let the clothes work for you, not against you.
Napoleon Hill once said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Everyone has good clothes and bad clothes. To be a better writer, you must believe that you can write every day. As a concert pianist, once you get into the habit, you don’t have to think about what note to play next, you just do it. If you could sit down and write every day, whenever you wanted, imagine the possibilities.
