Telling Lies…
Professional Writers Don’t Have Writer’s Block…
Can’t begin to tell you how many times I have heard that, and how many times over the decades I said it about myself.
And I believed that lie I kept telling myself and others. I totally believed it, even though I had years and years at different times I fought forms of writer’s block. I just never called it “writer’s block” because my belief system was that “writer’s block” was an excuse.
Uh, no.
Granted, what I do is sit alone in a room and make stuff up. Not a hard thing to do, but wow when it came to writer’s block, I was living in a dream state completely. I have fought writer’s block right from my first published stories 50 years ago. And I am sorry that I said writer’s block didn’t exist to hundreds of writers over the years. Just horrid advice, but sadly, I believed it.
After this coming class is over, I am going to do another of my Look-Back classes, this one called “50 Years of Fighting Writer’s Block” to go along with “What I learned from my Mentors in 50 Years” and What I Learned from my Mistakes in 50 Years.” Easily will fill 9 weeks of videos. Those three will make a fun set of history and learning.
So how many times did I almost quit writing because of major writer’s block issues? 4 major times that I can think of right off. And a number of lesser times. But I got really good at coping and driving myself onward each year, which is why I have become so prolific.
So over the years I have lied about professional writers not having writer’s block. Of course we do, of course I did. And that was not the kind of lie any professional writer should tell. We can lie about how fast we wrote something or how many drafts we did and things like that to help sell books to readers.
But professional writers should never lie to other writers about the process and the craft and the business.
And I hope to make up for all those years of kidding myself with these new classes.
Fact: Every writer deals with a form of writer’s block at one time or another. And the longer you have been writing, the more things you have dealt with, or are still dealing with.
And if any professional tella you otherwise, they are not being honest about the weeks and months and sometimes years that little or no writing got done for one reason or another. Listen to them. We all had our reasons… And I have had some great ones.
But it was still a form of writer’s block. And I was kidding myself when I said I never had it.
10 Comments
T Thorn Coyle
I think these classes will likely help a lot of people examine their underlying issues, which is great.
And I still don’t find the phrase useful.
The reason I dislike the phrase “writer’s block” is that it turns underlying causes into a Big Immovable Thing that seems unrelated to those same causes.
A lot of people bemoan being “blocked” instead of looking for and dealing with what’s actually happening.
Examples:
Needing to figure out a new writing pace because of health issues becomes Writer’s Block instead.
Perfectionism and fear of getting it wrong becomes Writer’s Block.
As long as we use the phrase “writer’s block” to describe our condition, we never have to deal with what’s actually slowing us down. We can just blame this nebulous “Writer’s Block”
So, good on you and Kris for designing classes to help folks through the process.
(And I’m still not gonna use that phrase).
dwsmith
Yup, I avoided it for decades as well until one day I realized the avoidance of the phrase was contributing to the slow down and stoppage length. I was refusing to face the issue head on.
So I agree in facing the issues. That’s what these classes will be about, training in a positive way to get past the issues and be more productive.
T Thorn Coyle
“avoidance of the phrase was contributing to the slow down and stoppage length.”
That’s really interesting, Dean. Good food for thought.
Kerridwen Mangala McNamara
Hmmmn.
I don’t think *every* reason that one doesn’t write counts as “writer’s block.” Can you put down more of a definition of what you’re including?
Maybe something along the lines of “an inability to (a) write productively when it is otherwise possible; or (b) to finish writing projects; or (c) to *want* to write”…?
Basically, it’s internal barriers to writing, as I understand it.
My counter-example of “not writing but not (internally) blocked” would be the time I spent up to my ear balls (as my mom would have put it) in toddlers and dirty diapers. When I could get everyone into line I had no problem writing… but that would last a week or so at best.
Being heavily invested for a period in your other career (and that includes parenting) shouldn’t count as “writer’s block” IMNSHO. Considering that to be a problem could take the focus off the real internal needs that people are working to get past.
dwsmith
That will take far longer to explain than I have here.
Internal barriers, sure. And we all deal with what you were describing in a thousand different ways. Did I have writer’s block because I was in a shoulder brace and could not type? No. At first…
We control what we can control. When we give over that control of our writing because of outside factors, we then run into problems. My smashed up shoulder and surgery stopped me for a time. Sure. The questions is, did it stop me for too long, past a point of return? If it did, that is a form of writer’s block.
Kerridwen Mangala McNamara
In another post you also seemed to consider switching back and forth between projects a firm of “block”… but that’s just a natural work style for some of us. Asimov’s and peers Anthony both mentioned doing that (in their autobiographies) as how they stayed inspired and productive.
Right now – for the WMG Great Publishing Challenge – I’m working to finish book 9, but book 10 needed to be written, so I’ve taken a break from editing and formatting to do that.
Just a thought… we’re all different in how we approach writing. Some ways might be more productive overall but a route to burnouts and thesis not sustainable for some of us due to neurodivergence.
dwsmith
We are all different. no right way to do writing. The wrong way is not doing it when you want to. But how varies
Kate Pavelle
Telling lies to yourself can be helpful-to a point. I didn’t think writers block was real, because I heard it from you. The thought had imbued me with excitement. If it wasn’t real, then I didn’t have to be afraid of it! I could safely keep ignoring those who kept moaning and groaning about how blocked they were.
However, this attitude led me to ignoring my own energy levels and needs, which had resulted in burn-out.
The sort of, ‘what’s the point if so many people write such good stories?’ burnout.
Underlying issues: expectations, comparing self to others, lack of self care (even though I thought I was being very balanced at the time. Hell, my GoogleCal accouted for mt every waking time block!)
I came to realuze that lying to self is a useful *short term* tool. Lots of us take part in races. We are all familiar with what lying to ourselves sounds like. “Pass that bike, yes you can. Run two more blocks before a walk break.” These pep talk strategies don’t work as well outside of the race. They may work during training, as long as they they don’t interfere with the training being investigative (Can I? Should I? Is that muscle tight?)
Writing is less like a race or training, and more like doing a meditative activity. I like when I get in the zone and the story writes itself –
Question is, what lifestyle practices foster getting to the zone?
Dee
I think definition – personal ones at least, matter. At least, sometimes.
Long ago – I was in the 4th grade when we had this amazing assembly – a writer – a REAL fiction writer, was coming to talk with us!
Writers have always been my Rock Stars – not in an unreachable way – just in a wow- that’s cool! Kinda way.
I was SO excited – I practically shook in my seat!
Then came the Q&A – and I raised my hand – and was chosen.
I asked the only question at the time that I knew real writers would know the answer to: What do you do when you get writer’s block?
Pause.
At the time, for wee little girl me, that simply meant – what do you do when writing gets a little hard? When the words don’t come effortlessly? When you aren’t sure what happens next or when its missing something you can feel but not understand yet?
Play.
The writer looked down at me…not hard, being on stage, but the distance expanded infinitly in my mind and he scoffed, eyes narrowing.
“Real writers don’t get writer’s block.”
I remember the feeling of all that excitement turning to shame. The way my skin chilled, the air disappeared, and everything seemed to come to a sudden stop. In fact, despite the years between myself and little me, I just teared up again.
It wasn’t that a “real” writer just effectivly labeled me as something worth that derrision – even the audience didn’t matter.
What mattered is that, because writing was sometimes hard – sometimes didn’t flow without effort – then I was not, and could never be, a real writer. I would never be able to write. Because it wasn’t always easy.
He would know best, after all.
Its funny, in a sad way, that this is the only part of the assembly I remember, though I remember it vividly.
Over time, I eventually learned as I grew up that the depth of the blow I’d taken and the one intended would never match. I do not doubt that the writer spoke earnestly and with kindness to the group of rowdy, overeager elementary students. I do not think they would ever suspect the wound they left behind.
I think, even as many of us do, that the phrase of ‘Writer’s Block’ holds SO much variety of meaning.
Certainly, we have said before, there’s no such thing as plumber’s block – but the context for that has mostly seemed to be used to shield against aspects of not doing the work – or, at least, quitting early without any attempts if the work got hard.
This ‘do the work’ is NOT meant to be used in the context of things that would prevent all of us plumbers from working, too. At least, when I defined it that way to myself.
I am so glad that you have created this class and have taken a look at multiple aspects of the artists weary way. I’m not able to take it yet – too many family and financials to recover – but it is on my list. I will get there.
There’s this little girl I remember, you see…and I think she’ll be delighted to hear a better answer.
dwsmith
Sadly, I would have said the same thing as a professional writer while the real answer would be that professional writers learn how to overcome the blocks that stop us and that takes time and energy to learn. Sitting alone in a room and making stuff up is never work, but sometimes it takes work to get to that state of mind.