You’re ready to write the story of your life. You’ve put your heart and soul into it.

• Your themes resonate with you, and they’re the core of the novel.

• You’ve hidden them so well you’ll write a story, not a message.

• Your willing to write honestly, knowing you can’t please everyone, but you’ll reach the people who will understand YOU.

• You’ve layered your story with subthemes that will make plotting easier, and will make the tale you’re telling richer.

• And you actually KNOW what you’ll be writing about before you start writing.

You’re golden.

Almost.

You have one huge obstacle ahead of you, one you haven’t yet considered. It may not be a factor with your first book, it won’t be a factor for the first book you SELL, but for every book thereafter, your passion, your creativity, and the soul of your story will be written against the background of a ticking clock.

You will face deadlines.

Everyone knows the rules for meeting deadlines. You break your story into daily bites, you write a certain number of words or a certain number of pages per day, you build padding into your schedule so that you can have a few bad days and not come in late, and you stick to your schedule. All great, it works, it’s the way I’ve written a whole lot of books and hit a whole lot of deadlines.

But there’s more to it than that. When the clock is ticking, you know you’ll only have so many times you can fall down, lose your place, and make mistakes before you fall behind. And playing catch-up is hell on creativity–stress, anxiety, and the fear that this time you won’t be able to write to the end of the book come crashing in on you, and make simply finishing an ordeal–never mind finishing on time.

Everyone hits those places sooner or later. But how do you keep from hitting them every time? And how do you hang on to all the richness and power and passion you built into your story when fear and worry make writing feel like rock climbing with no safety gear?

Follow these three steps, and you’ll get through it.

• Believe in the power of your themes.

If you’re writing stories that matter to you, you’ll be able to lose yourself in them even when the pressure is on. I’ve been in some incredibly tight spots, with not just looming deadlines but a dwindling bank account—but because I’d taken the time to build the foundation for a story I wanted and NEEDED to write, once I sat down and put my fingers on the keyboard, I could slip away for a while from the real world and lose myself in my characters and their lives.

If you’re “just cranking one out,” you’re going to have a much, much harder time shaking off the real world and getting your work done. And your quality will suffer, too. If you’re telling a story you need to tell, your characters will drag you to the keyboard on days when you just don’t think you can do it.

• Trust surprises…but not too much.

Be willing to explore story ideas that ADD TO and complement the themes you already have in place. Bringing in new events that can take your characters in different directions but still allow them to get back to the story you’d planned can make getting your daily quota of words or pages exciting—you’re not entirely sure what is going to happen, but you’re pretty sure it’s going to be good.

Make sure, before chasing after a sudden hunch or enchanting new direction, that it DOES work in tandem with your story. Take a few minutes to see if you can daydream your way from the beginning of the tangent all the way through to the place where it connects back in to the big scenes and big events you’ve plotted out.

• Dance with the one who brought you.

Stress and deadlines have a way of shaking your confidence, in making you second-guess everything you planned, in pushing you to look for something that would be easier, simpler, quicker. Don’t do it.

The problem is, you might have what seems like a great surprise idea pop on you that promises to give you easier, simpler, quicker, and it can be hard to tell the difference between a nice surprise and a betrayal in waiting.

Stop yourself right away if you find yourself altering your story themes or your main direction because of this great new idea. The sure-fire way to kill the story you’re writing is to hare off after what is, in fact, an entirely new story trying to disguise itself as something you can use right now. If you’re writing about a doctor who has lost faith in his profession and who walks away from medicine, only to discover how much he needs to help people—and you have a great idea to make him an archaeologist—hit the brakes.

Let the archaeologist idea simmer in the back of your mind while you finish the doctor book. If it’s any good, it’ll still be there when you’re ready to write the next story.

Easier, simpler, quicker is nothing but a mirage when you’re pushing toward a deadline. Faith in the strength of your story, a bit of daring, and focus on what you started with and what you intend to have when you’re done, however, will give you what you need to get through.

You can do this. And you’ll have the best thing you’ve every written when you’re done; a novel with a pulse, with muscle and sinew, with passion and meaning.


- Holly Lisle

Ever sit in front of a blank word processing document, cursor blinking on the screen, mind searching for what to do next? If so, you’re not alone. Every writer struggles with where to start, how to keep motivated, and where to go next with their work. These challenges are collectively known as “writer’s block” – the plight of every aspiring scribe.

So writer’s block seems to be a valid lack of inspiration or motivation, similar to what every creative person deals with at one time or another. And the idea of writer’s block conjures images of tortured artists struggling to find the right words. You want to write, but you can’t – that sounds like writer’s block. Here’s the thing: aspiring writers chalk up their difficulties to writer’s block as if that’s an appropriate excuse for not doing their work. But it’s not. They let this thing called writer’s block prevent them from their goals and aspirations of publication for days, weeks, months, or even years. But they don’t have to.

The line between amateur wannabe and serious professional has been drawn. Serious, professional writers learn early on that throwing around excuses in lieu of completing their assignments, stories, or whatever writing project they’re working on puts them in the fast lane bound for failure. No matter how romantic the idea of writer’s block actually seems, it only means slacker as far as editors are concerned. (Please note that this isn’t to say that some writers have never experienced conditions and disorders that impeded their work, such as clinical depression, illness, or alcoholism. But challenges like these will stop anyone, regardless of their profession or craft, so they don’t count as writer’s block either.)

Now, if you’re an aspiring writer and you’re saying to yourself, “I have writer’s block,” understand that giving your lack of motivation a label – and using the word “writer” in it – you’re making your obstacle stronger. If you eradicate the phrase “writer’s block” from your vocabulary right now, and replace it with something less literary, like “lack of ideas,” “inability to write,” or “lack of professionalism,” then the whole thing sounds much less glamorous, right? You can still be a writer with “writer’s block,” but you’re not much of a writer with the “inability to write.”

In other words, snap out of it! You don’t have to let this thing everyone likes to call writer’s block get in your way – now, or later in your writing career. Because if you let it get to you, you will fail at your writing goals.

So how can you beat your lack of inspiration? Consider the following strategies.

1. Brainstorm New Ideas

If you’re stuck, the best way to get unstuck is to brainstorm. When writers lose steam and get stuck on a project, they might decide to abandon whatever they’re working on. They begin to question their abilities, the validity of their message, and the worth of their project. These tendencies only make the situation worse. But you may find some relief in revisiting your original intentions – the goals you had when your project idea first came to mind.

Forget writing for right now, and really give your project some thought. Revisit your goals, your preliminary notes, and your original intentions. Have you strayed from your original project path? If so, why? Has your project changed or evolved? If so, what are you missing? What new ideas have you hit on? How can you flesh them out?

Let go of your inhibitions, and let your ideas flow. You may be able to locate your creative hang-ups right away, or it may take some work. But as long as you stick with it, you’ll be able to overcome your challenges.

2. Take a Walk

When the last place you want to be is in front of your desk, you may need a change of scenery. Taking a walk can benefit writers twofold. First, writing is exercise – it gets your blood pumping (hopefully to your brain) and gets you moving. It gives you physical and mental space from your project. Plus, walking uses a completely different part of your brain than writing, so you can give your creativity a rest, get outside, and reconnect with your world and your surroundings, where ideas and inspiration abound.

Second, the motion of walking is very rhythmic, which lends itself to meditation and allows you to let your anxieties go and clear your mind. As you walk, forget about your writing and focus on the feel of the ground beneath your feet. Listen to your footfalls, feel your arms moving at your sides, smell the air, and empty your mind of all writing-related thoughts. Keep this up for as long as you can, thirty minutes to an hour would be ideal, and when you return to your desk you will feel rejuvenated. Just make sure you do return to your desk.

3. Ask for Help

Writing is a solitary endeavor, but that doesn’t mean that progress happens in a vacuum. If you’re stuck on something, why not ask for help? Talk to your editor, mentor, or writing coach about the challenges you’re facing. If you’re a member of a writer’s group, bounce a few ideas off someone you trust. If you aren’t in a writer’s group, find one to join, or start one of your own – all you really need is a few like-minds.

You can even enlist the help of a non-writer friend or spouse. Talk to them about your concerns, and ask for support. The act of sharing your problems, in itself, may relieve some of your hang-ups. You may see that the answer to your writing problem was right in front of you the whole time.

The End of Writer’s Block Forever

If you’re serious about writing, you have to forget about writer’s block. Because as soon as you start naming your lack of inspiration with writing-related terms, you give it more power over your success. Essentially, writer’s block is nothing more than an excuse for not being able to do what writer’s do – write. Serious writers know how to manage their mental hang-ups, and keep writing despite them.

The blinking cursor on the blank screen is a fact that every writer must face. How you handle it will ultimately make or break you. When you leave writer’s block behind for good, you will see your writing, your creativity, and your confidence soar.


- Melinda Copp