I haven't been troubled by writer's block for years. But I remember what it feels like. Boy, do I remember! You sit at the keyboard and either nothing flows. It's frustrating. It's scary. It's intimidating. It shakes your self-confidence.
Soon you find yourself watching TV or rummaging in the refrigerator or twiddling your lips with your forefinger. If it goes on long enough, you find that weeks or months have passed while your magnum opus languishes on a shelf or on the forgotten sectors of your hard drive. The Great American Novel that was going to be becomes something that never was.
Writer's block used to side-track me from my goals--but no more. I've been writing full-time for over a dozen years, and in that time I haven't been blocked once. I've been stumped or frustrated for an hour or two, but I no longer get blocked for a day or longer. The reason for that, I believe, is twofold:
First, I can't afford the luxury of writer's block. Writing is my day job. If I don't produce, I don't get paid. I have to generate four or five books a year in order to pay the mortgage, feed my kids, and keep electrical current coursing through the innards of my computer. There's a lot to be said for having the wolf camped out on your welcome mat.
Second, I've acquired a few effective "block-busting" techniques to get me through the rough spots.
1. The Grab 15 Principle
A lot of writers get blocked for weeks, months, even years at a time because they are waiting for the perfect time to write. "I don't have time to write a book right now, I'm just too busy," we say. So we wait until we have a few days or a few weeks of spare time, "and then I'm really going to get that book written!" But that golden, hoped-for spare time never arrives. Fact is, most of us fail to realize how much priceless, irreplaceable time slips right through our fingers.
Working with business guru Bert Decker and his wife, time-management expert Dru Scott, I learned a priceless secret that has put hours and hours of extra writing time into my life: The Grab 15 Principle. In fact, I recently completed a 450-page novel that I wrote entirely by the Grab 15 Principle. Here's how it works:
Decide what book you are going to devote yourself to, then make a commitment that you will "Grab 15" every day without fail--that is, you will devote fifteen minutes of every day to that cherished dream project, no matter what. No matter how busy your day, you promise yourself that your head won't hit the pillow that night until you have spent at least fifteen minutes on your book.
There are several reasons this technique is so powerful. First, all those little fifteen-minute chunks of time add up--fast! As Dru Scott points out, even if you take Sundays off from your "Grab 15" commitment, those fifteen minutes a day times six days equals ninety minutes a week--or a whopping seventy-eight hours in a year! What you are doing is taking time that might otherwise just fall through the cracks, and using it to magically add the equivalent of almost two forty-hour work weeks to your life! Think what you could accomplish if someone gave you an extra two weeks a year to work on it!
Another reason this technique is so powerful is that it boosts your creativity. It keeps you constantly thinking about your project, day after day, because you are working on it on a continual, daily basis. Instead of having to start over from scratch every six months and say to yourself, "Now, where was I on this project?," you have momentum built up. Ideas and insights come to you in the shower, on your commute, and over breakfast, because your project is continually on your mind. This makes each of your fifteen-minute sessions more productive and effective.
The Grab 15 Principle also keeps you disciplined. It imposes a daily requirement and keeps you moving steadily toward your goal. It creates a habit in your life that soon becomes hard to break--a daily, disciplined writing habit that will serve you well throughout your writing career.
Another reason this technique is so powerful is that you find it hard to stop at fifteen minutes! "Some days," says Dru Scott, "after you finish your fifteen-minute commitment, you will be on a roll. You will feel like continuing. And you will. That bonus effort will bring you that much closer to your goal."
(By the way, Dru Scott is the author of such books as Finding More Time In Your Life, Stress That Motivates: Self-Talk Secrets for Success, and Customer Satisfaction: The Other Half of Your Job. I recommend each of these powerful practical books on management, motivation, and success.)
2. Withdraw briefly.
Sometimes you get blocked when you press too hard. You get too close to the problem and can't see your way through the tangle of ideas, thoughts, and feelings. You become stressed. You need a break. You need to withdraw for just a bit. My favorite withdrawal techniques include:
A. Walk away from the computer, go into the living room and lay down on the couch, put my feet up, close my eyes, and just clear my mind, day-dream, let my thoughts float, meditate, or pray.
B. Put on my jogging suit and run.
C. Take a hot shower.
D. Listen to music.
When you withdraw, avoid all input that would distract. You want to back off from your project--but not too far. Turning on the TV or talk radio will take your mind completely off your writing project--though I personally find that reading can actually feed my "Muse." A mild diversion helps to clear your mind and re-energize your imagination and creativity. A major distraction (TV or radio or other noisy intrusion) is just an invitation to procrastination.
You want to keep the "Muse" perched on the shoulder of your awareness, within easy reach. Somewhere below the level of your conscious awareness, a part of you will still be turning the writing problem over in your mind--exploring it, checking out options and ideas, looking for new angles of attack, new ways to approach it--even if your conscious mind is unaware of it. Eventually, something that people call "inspiration" will strike you--seemingly right out of the blue. But the reality is that the "inspiration" will be nothing more or less than the solution that arose as your creative mind continued to function just below the level of your conscious awareness.
3. Leave a gap and move on.
Often, when I come to a tough passage in a book, I say to myself, "This is tough now, but it will be easier later." So I insert a note at that point that says: "[TO COME: SECTION ON BLAH-BLAH-BLAH.]" I usually write it in all caps so it stands out, and I sometimes use the bookmark feature in my word processor to make it easy to find. Later, when I come back to that difficult passage, I have the advantage of having written most of the book to the very end. That gives me an overview of the entire book that I didn't have when I left the gap. I often find that knowing how the entire book has worked out helps me when I go back to that difficult passage. Sometimes I find out that the passage I was trying to write would have been redundant or unnecessary. If I had spent hours trying to write it, I would have just been wasting my time on a section that would have ended up on the cutting room floor. Leaving a gap and moving on can save a lot of time, sweat, and Tylenol.
4. Write garbage and move on.
Writing garbage and moving on is a lot like leaving a gap and moving on. You write it, you hate it, but you don't worry about it. You say to yourself, "It's lousy, but what the hey! I'll fix it later."
I know a lot of people who are obsessive-compulsive about their writing. They must have every sentence buffed and polished to perfection before they can move on to the next sentence. They can't leave gaps. They can't write garbage and move on. They demand first-draft perfection. Such people write themselves into an early grave, and their output tends to be very constipated.
If you believe in yourself--if you really believe you are good at what you do--then writing a little temporary garbage now and then doesn't undermine your self-esteem. You are confident that you'll fix it later. You know that when you come back to that lousy section you just wrote, the block will be gone, the problems that seem murky now will seem clear and solvable, and your final draft will sing and dance. I have that kind of confidence because, after some fifty books in print, I've seen it happen again and again.
And you can do it, too. When you hit a stretch of rough road, just get through it and beyond it as quickly as you can.
5. Build your book, story, or article on an outline.
A lot of people don't like to outline their projects. "That's too confining, too limiting," they say. I think that attitude shows a lack of discipline, a lack of seriousness and realism about the writing process. I've learned that you've gotta know where you're going or you'll never get there.
True, there is something to be said for the so-called "narrative push" approach, in which you start writing, not knowing where you are going or how your story is going to end. The idea is that as you "push" the narrative forward, you make surprising plot discoveries as you go. Some very successful writers swear by this approach. One proponent was SF writer Theodore Sturgeon, who said, "If the writer has no idea what happens next, the reader certainly won't." It is important to note, however, that Sturgeon was chronically afflicted by writer's block throughout his career.
I have found that an outline (which is merely a plan on paper, not commandments carved in stone) still allows for discovery, serendipity, and surprise. When I first got the idea for my recently completed novel, the basic storyline came to me in a rush. I got horizontal on my living room couch and figured out the major high points, scenes, and plot twists in the space of an hour--just lying there with my eyes closed. Then I sat down at the computer and hammered out an outline, about three pages worth.
Over the next few months, I grew that outline. I got new ideas and insights, and I plugged them into the outline. I came up with new characters and plot twists. I even came up with an entirely new ending from the one I had originally envisioned (see? I still managed to surprise myself!).
Point is, I knew exactly where I was heading the whole time. I had a road map that kept me from losing my way. The entire time I was writing and producing chapters, I had the big picture in mind, and that made the writing process flow. I never felt limited or bound by the outline. I could explore new ideas, take plot detours, add or delete characters or subplots--but everything I wrote took place within a structure that gave me a sense of direction, a goal to aim for. And that kept me from getting blocked.
I follow pretty much the same route with my nonfiction books. I assemble an outline, grow that into a book proposal, sell the proposal to the publisher, then I grow the proposal into a book. Far from being limiting or rigid, it's a very organic and satisfying way to write (notice that organized and organic come from the same root word).
6. Stop while you're on a roll.
This sounds crazy, but it really works. I keep a disciplined writing time, and I try to make sure I'm in the middle of an easy section when I quit for the day. That way, I know that when I sit down at the computer the next day, I won't feel daunted by the challenge. Instead, I'll feel eager to jump right in and keep going.
Use momentum to your advantage. If possible, try to get through difficult sections while you've got energy and momentum working for you. Save the easy stuff for getting started the next time you start writing.
7. Always write forward, never backward.
I know writers and wannabe writers who continually obsess over the first few paragraphs they've written and never get around to writing the rest of the book. I think a lot of writers get blocked because they think too much about what they've written and not enough about what they have yet to write. Trust me: You want to write great stuff? Then keep writing forward, and don't look back.
8. When you start your writing time, try backing up a few paragraphs.
Remember that I said you should always write forward, never back? Well, this is a slight exception to that rule. Sometimes, if it's hard to get into the flow of the book from a standing start, it helps to back up just a couple paragraphs and take a running start. Just re-read and polish up a few paragraphs, get your creative juices flowing, re-capture the momentum and the mood you had during your last writing session--then keep moving forward.
9. Use "heart-starters" to crank up your enthusiasm.
A heart-starter is a motivational phrase, a motivational book, an upbeat song on a CD--anything that lubricates your emotions and imagination so that the words can flow. Sometimes, I sit down at my keyboard and think, "I don't really feel like doing this. I can't produce great words the way I feel right now." But I know I have to produce--so I keep a terrific heart-starter on top of my computer case--a book called Dare to Be a Great Writer by Leonard Bishop (Writer's Digest Books, 1988). It's comprised of 329 short essays on a variety of writing topics, all of them practical and essential, but none of which take more than a minute to read. I often open the book, select an essay at random, read it, then close the book feeling revved up and ready to write.
10. Believe you can do it.
Act on the belief that you are a good writer creating great work--even if you don't believe it. Make a decision to sit down and write, whether you feel like it or not, whether you are "inspired" or not. Act first, and the feelings will follow. Some people wait for the feelings of a writer to come before they exhibit the behavior of a writer. Very self-defeating.
This is crucial to understand: Feelings follow behavior. So act like a writer. Turn on that glowing screen, place fingers on keyboard--then produce! Only when you act like a writer and produce like a writer will you truly feel like a writer.
So those are my ten block-busters. Nothing magical--just practical. I'm a writer today because these block-busters work. I know they'll work for you.
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