Struggling with writer's block?
In which I recommend writing dirty. No, not that kind of dirty...or, well, *also* that kind. ::wiggles eyebrows::
Are you an experienced writer who wants to write a book, but you just can’t seem to sit down and do it?
Are you in fact under contract to write this book?
Have you blown a bunch of soft deadlines? Hard ones? Kicked more cans down the road than an entire gang of can-kicking orphans in Depression-era Brooklyn?
Are your publisher and agent getting impatient with you? Are your family, friends, and/or coworkers? Are you?
Are you beginning to freak out?
You’re not alone—far from it. Plenty of talented authors have this problem: they know they can write a book; they know they can write a good book; some of them are aware that they will be in a great deal of debt and legal doo-doo if they don’t write a book; yet they just….can’t seem to write the book.
If this all sounds relatable: walk with me. I might be able to help you.
But first, some housekeeping:
It’s time for another Q and A post.
I haven’t done an open-call Q and A post in a while, so that’s what I’m going to do next week.
Have a question about book publishing or loosely related life matters? Send it to me at anna@neonliterary.com, and if I can possibly answer, I will.
Please put “Glow question” in the subject line of your email. I’ll plan to identify you by first initial only unless you specify otherwise. And while anyone is welcome to ask a question, please know that most if not all of my answers next week are going to be behind the premium-subscription paywall.
Please don’t ask me any questions that are thinly-veiled book pitches.
Anyhoo, back to this:
What to do if you can’t seem to write that book
First: I want you to read every word of what follows. EVERY WORD. I also want you to try everything I suggest—even if you’re certain this or that won’t help.
It is so smug and dicky of me to ask this—don’t trust your instincts, trust ME!!—that I ought to tell you why I’m asking.
In the past 20 years, I’ve learned over and over that seasoned professionals struggling with writer’s block (or—eep—editor’s block) nearly always have something funky wedged in their subconscious. This makes it hard for sufferers to get their minds around the precise cause of their suffering and clueless in the matter of removing it. In general, the “help” they think will be most helpful—e.g. yet another deadline extension—isn’t just unhelpful; it actively perpetuates the problem.
What will actually be helpful for curing your writer’s block? I couldn’t tell you. How could I—I don’t even know who I’m talking to right now, and even if I did, well, it’s personal. IDK.
What I can do, however, is throw out a bunch of potentially helpful tools and beg you to to try them—all of them—with an open mind.
If none of these work, I’d try therapy—although I hope you’re already trying that, because it’s great.