Here’s a Thought: Maybe You Don’t Have Writer’s Block
By: Susan L Stewart
Tags: Creativity, Reading, Writing, Struggle, Writers Block

Here’s a Thought: Maybe You Don’t Have Writer’s Block

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

I have been struggling with my current novel for more than a year. Could it be two years? More? I feel like Jacob, the Old Testament biblical character. He was alone in the desert, and God sent one of his angels. Jacob wrestled with the angel all night, and he wasn’t giving up. So the angel touched him in his thigh joint, and Jacob was down for the count.

Now let me make something clear: I am not struggling in a battle with God. A little smarter, I am. I’m fighting with myself.

Overall, I’m a pretty quick writer and have been known to turn out three finished books in a year. I didn’t write a word in 2018. I have no idea why. Well, I do, but nothing I can write about here. Let’s say that not writing had nothing to do with my ability to write or the quality of my novels.

I always have two or three novels in various stages of completion, and I tried writing in all of them. Not happening.

I blamed my inability to string words together on writer’s block, that horrible, paralyzing fear that authors get when they think they’ll never write another sentence readers will want to read.

But I have a favorite writer’s quote that cured me of writer’s block:

Amateurs sit around waiting for inspiration; the rest of us get up and go to work. — Stephen King

I look at writing in a new way now. Writer’s block seldom happens to me. If I’m stuck in a novel, I switch to another one and keep writing. Then I go back to the original one.

This time something was different. I had interesting, although not completely developed, characters. I was writing in a new genre but had read a lot of books in it and felt I understood it. The first 50,000 words needed a few rewrites which I never worry about, and the plot was solid.

So what was my problem?

Ever since I finished my first, horrible novel back in the 1990s, I had not had this much trouble.

Then one afternoon my husband and I were out running errands. We live outside of Denver, and it takes us twenty minutes to get to any shopping. I was looking out the window at the barren winter landscape when a thought, strong and sure, came to me.

I no longer wanted to write this book.

My struggle vanished.

But now, I was filled with questions I couldn’t answer.

The biggest question was, why didn’t I want to write this book that I had spent so many hours of my life on? I had a plot that worked. I had interesting characters, and things were moving along. Sure, I was in a tight spot right now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t figure out how to get my character out of it.

What was the problem?

After much more thought I came to the answer.

Because I don’t want to.

I know it sounds like an answer a three-year-old would give, but some toddlers are very wise.

Yes, writer’s block can happen when a writer is fighting a story.

But sometimes writers simply do not want to work on the project anymore. There is no shame in this. Some books take years to write, and people change. Lives change. People’s perspectives change.

Bottom line:

I’ve been working on this novel for so long that I am bored with the characters and plot.

I never delete my unfinished writing.

I always have a little flicker of hope that someday I will come back and finish it. I have a file on my hard drive for these projects.

Now I need to move on to a new project. It’s hard to say goodbye to this novel. I’ve lived with it for several years, and I will miss these people I’ve created.

So I won’t say, “Goodbye,” instead, I’ll say, “Farewell for now.”

Do you have a project that has been sitting on your computer waiting for you to come back? Does the thought of it make you feel guilty for ignoring it so long?

Ask yourself: “Do I even want to finish writing this thing?

Then pay attention to what that inner voice is saying and move forward.