Between a kid, a career, and furthering education, I carve out precious little time for my writing. Writing gives me a release and lets me escape the doldrums of my job. The last thing I want when I finally manage to wrangle a few minutes in front of a word processor is to hit a wall and not know what to write about.
My time is at an all time premium right now. I can’t afford to have one of the few things which leaves me fulfilled be a solid waste of time. I only have the twilight between when my kid goes to sleep and I myself am too tired to be functional. That’s at best going to be an hour or two if everything goes perfectly and all chores are squared away. Things don’t usually go as expected though.
Writer’s block is a waste of time. I don’t have time to waste, and neither do you. To get through writer’s block, you have to smash through it.
The Write Path Forward
I worked for years in copywriting, technical writing, and editing. When it’s your job, you don’t have a choice but to write (unless you don’t want a job I guess). The topics are also usually boring unless you are extremely lucky with the job. I had some interesting topics, but for every great topic, there was one about the features on a Widget Deluxe, which was better than the previous year’s Widget because it had over 6.25% more extra battery life!
It’s pretty hard to care about the Widget Deluxe. I wanted to move on and up from those jobs so I had no choice but to keep writing. As the Dao says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” To get past writer’s block, you need to start writing.
It doesn’t have to be good, and let’s be honest, it probably won’t be if you’re really stuck, but it’s a start. You’re trying to get the juices flowing, not necessarily to write your own Ulysses. If you happen to do so, well awesome, but the goal is to focus on the process rather than the result.
What Wall Waits
All walls are barriers, but not all barriers are the same. You need to know what you’re working with and against. Writer’s block manifests in several forms, each of which has its own sinister influences on the writing process.
Writer’s block on a lack of topic leads to nothing being written. A block on where to take a story leads to idle meandering at best or taking a great piece and just ruining it. Sometimes you just stop caring about what you’re writing and your piece may as well be about the Widget Deluxe.
All of these can be viewed as forms of apathy. Apathy towards where to start, apathy towards where to go, apathy towards the process. It may not be conscious apathy, but it manifests from lack of confidence to proceed and indecision. Just make sure not to confuse apathy with fatigue. It isn’t apathy when you start or fully write a piece and it just doesn’t work out so you drop it. It also isn’t apathy when you push yourself too hard and just don’t have focus anymore.
Addressing Apathy
Acknowledging that this is apathy is the first step of addressing it. The apathy inherent in writer’s block stems from an inability to progress and a frustration with the process which leads to a shutdown. Whatever you’re doing doesn’t seem good enough so you give up, or worse, don’t even start. Rejection or failure just makes these feelings stronger.
Apathy Towards Where To Start
This one is the easiest to address, but probably the hardest to really accept. All you need is a topic and the follow through to write about it. Ideas are cheap, follow through isn’t.
Books on writing topics are cheap and the internet is full of writing prompts. If you are completely stumped, why not just write about something? The process of writing is the most important part. A great writer turns a boring topic into an interesting piece.
If you don’t even care about what the topic is, why not just work on the technicalities of writing? Ever wonder why there are so many pieces about writing? What better to write about when you don’t know what to write than writing itself? Just doing something is better than fretting about what to do.
You can force yourself to start again by trying a different style. If you write primarily technical topics, why not try out a short story? It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be finished. If you write fiction, why not try writing a more technical essay? To get started, all you have to do is decide to start. Once the juices are flowing, you’ll get through your dark night for writing.
Apathy Towards Towards Where To Go
World building is extremely hard. Writing a good essay is hard. A lot of things about writing are hard, but that’s also what makes it fun. It’s easy to lead up to the crescendo and not know what note to put. The fear of making a mistake can paralyze you when you need to keep your momentum.
Fear of mistakes can poison your writing. Whenever I hit this particular juncture, I try to just write about some other aspect of the topic to reinforce the general story or essay. If you’re writing a story, write about the character’s backgrounds or other things going on. Flesh out the world and you’ll pare down the possibilities for a story. Only the best will survive. If you’re writing something more technical like an essay, flesh out other details which support your point or goal. They can be cut later, but you keep your momentum, even if it is shifted a bit.
Sometimes, you just need to change gears and give your brain time to chew on the piece in the background. If you just can’t get into the flow, and you’ve tried to force it, take a break. Come back later when you have given yourself ample time to “rest” by either doing something else, or writing something else. Ironically enough, this can be the best way to keep momentum (by avoiding burnout), but only if it isn’t used as a cop out.
Apathy Towards Towards The Process
This is an escape and a job in itself for me. Both my writing for pleasure, and for profit manage to be both escapes and jobs in their own rights. Maintaining this balance helps me keep up with going through the motions even when I feel like I just shouldn’t care anymore.
More importantly, I write for the process rather than the result. The act of writing is my escape; my pragmatic nature makes me want to monetize it. When you focus on the result, you focus on concrete goals with abstract implementations. Writing is too subjective to make goals like “I want to write the best article ever about dogs,” but people set out to do so anyway.
I don’t not want to be the best, but I don’t write an article trying to do so either. I want to write the best that I can, but I know it won’t be the objective best. What works for the masses probably won’t work for an expert, and what reads great to an expert is probably gibberish to the rest. There are too many targets and all of them are moving. Just focus on aiming.
Be mindful of the process. Write for the sake of writing, and finishing is easy (or at least easier). If you can’t tie a piece together, stop trying to one up and top yourself and focus on the writing process itself. Mindfulness is a great way to power through the walls at this point. You may still miss the mark, but at least you gave it your all trying.
More Than Apathy
Apathy can be a silent killer in writing, but it is possible to swing too far back the other way. Like the Instagram influencer who bought an ice cream cone just to take a picture before throwing it away, many people just go through the motions with their experiences. Writing draws on life and experiences. Without life to back it, writing is just words on a page.
Broaden your horizons, you need to see more and do more to write more. Don’t be trapped in the insular bubble of only writing. See the world. Experience it. Know it so you can know yourself. Then, and only then, you can write about it.
Don’t think about the blog article you’re going to write. Think about what you’re doing and savor it. If you stumble on a great idea, make a note, but don’t go looking for it. Go to the park to walk, not to write a blog entry. Live in the moment for a moment.
Smashing The Wall
Results are borne from the process and the implementation of the process. A skilled painter doesn’t ruin their painting by caring too much about just painting. Be mindful of what you’re doing and focus yourself on the process rather than the results. You’ll be a better writer for it, and a better person.
If you get completely stuck, try something different. If it’s not resolve, it may be skill. Use your writer’s block to try something you wouldn’t normally. Write with a different style. Do a piece you never would ordinarily. Use a prompt. It doesn’t matter, the time would be wasted anyway, so why not use it for something constructive?
Addressing the apathy you feel as a result of hopelessness towards your writing and broadening your horizons is more than enough to break through writer’s block. Tap your experiences, but don’t neglect to grow them either. Write like you’re writing for the sake of writing, even when you’re not. I don’t have writer’s block anymore. Not every piece is going to be a masterpiece, but it doesn’t have to be.
Feature image by Prettysleepy2 from Pixabay