ï»żThe Author Burnout Coach
Episode 09: The 5 Causes of Writersâ Block
Hello writers and welcome to The Author Burnout Coach. Together, we will dismantle the burnout culture in book publishing and reclaim our love of stories. I am your host, Isabel Sterling, and this is episode 9.
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Hello writers! Today weâre going to talk about something that affects nearly all writers at some pointâŠ. The dreaded writersâ block!
You donât have to call it writersâ block if that doesnât resonate for you. There are certainly different opinions on whether writersâ block is even real. A common argument is that surgeons donât get surgery block, so writersâ block isnât a thing. Iâm not here to argue the semantics. You can call it writersâ block, getting stuck, not knowing where the story goes next, or simply feeling uninspired.
Either way, the result is the same: You, staring at the blank page, with no idea what happens next. You might try to write anyway, hoping that the ideas will come if you just get started. Sometimes that works, but other times? Forcing the words only makes it worse.
If this is you, donât fret. This happens to all of us, at every stage of our writing careers. Panicking about being blocked will only make the block worse. So, deep breath. Weâre going to get through this.
Thereâs a lot of advice about how to get over writersâ block, but most advice skips an important component: diagnosing WHY youâre stuck. Thatâs where we will begin.
Over the course of writing ten novels, Iâve found the reason I get stuck has shifted a bit. And between that and what Iâve seen with my coaching clients, Iâve distilled the source of writersâ block into five main causes.
Even if youâre not currently blocked, I recommend you listen anyway. Many of these causes of writersâ block can also contribute to burnout if not addressed.
Okay, letâs go!
Cause number 1 - your story is going in the wrong direction.
These days, this tends to be my number one cause of writersâ block, and it happens a couple times with every book. If I get stuck on the same scene day after day after day and everytime I sit down to write it feels wrong and stilted.
For you, this might look a little different. Maybe you have this sense that something isnât right. The characters arenât speaking to you anymore, or you have an unsettled feeling in your gut.
When I recognize that this is the cause of my block, Iâll ask myself âwhere was the last time this felt right?â Iâll go back a chapter or two and read through what I have. If I can keep the judgment out of it and stay curious and open, I can usually sense the spot where I took a wrong turn. For me, itâs usually because a characterâs emotional reaction was forced instead of authentic.
Once I spot the problem and fix that spot, the words flow again.
If youâre working on your first ever novel, you might not have the same spidey-sense for this yet, and thatâs okay! It comes with practice. I wasnât able to do this with my earlier novels, but the more I write, the more finely tuned my story intuition gets.
Cause number 2 - youâre putting way too much pressure on yourself
This might be you if you find yourself worried the project will never sell, that readers will hate it, or that this whole endeavor is a waste of time. Perfectionism can creep in here, too.
Now, yâall know that I love big goals. But creativity is not lump of coal waiting to become a diamond. Intense pressure is not conducive to the freedom and creativity needed to tell stories. What if writing could be fun?
When we get too attached to the external goalâget an agent, sell this project, hit a best seller listâwe can forget that writing is allowed to be fun. We put too much pressure on our first draft to be perfect, and that pressure stops us from writing at all. Or, if we ARE able to create under this pressure, it wears away at us and leaves us vulnerable to burnout.
If this is you, try to focus on enjoying the process of writing. The external stuff can matter later, after youâve finished this draft.
Cause number 3 - you think thereâs one ârightâ solution
When you get caught in the trap of thinking thereâs only one right way to tell this story, you can end up feeling totally stuck. Every idea (if you have any) feels terrible and not good enough. Your predominant thought about what comes next is âI donât know!â
Many of us have been conditioned through all a decade-plus of education to associate wrong answers with failure. Weâre taught that failure should be avoided at all costs, that if weâre not automatically good at something, weâre doomed to be terrible forever and should avoid it.
Writing a story isnât anything like solving a geometry equation, though. Weâre not solving for X. This isnât a RIGHT answer. Creativity, by its very nature, requires risk and a string of failure.
My favorite solution here is letting yourself get silly with it. Come up with 10 possible places the story could go next, the more bizarre and ridiculous, the better. Once your brain sees itâs okay to be wrong, itâll offer up ideas youâll actually want to use. If you STILL feel suck, coming up with 10 intentionally WRONG ideas can help, too.
This brings us to cause number 4 - you doubt your ability to tell this story.
Your inner monologue sounds a little something like this: Iâll never figure this out. Why did I think I could do this? The story is too complicated for me. Iâm not smart enough.
First, know that doubt is normal. We all have doubts, and has we grow as a writer, we do tend to stretch ourselves to the limits of our current abilities. This is a good thing! It means weâre growing and evolving as a writer.
When you catch yourself in the doom spiral of not being good enough, try to shift to thoughts like: All writers have doubts sometimes. I donât need to know the entire story to write the next scene. Iâll become âgood enoughâ DURING the process of writing this book.
Be careful here not to force an overly positive mantra. Find something that feels better than âIâm doomedâ to inch yourself to a more neutral state.
I love the thought âIf I wasnât capable of writing this story, I wouldnât have been able to come up with the concept.â Or, if thatâs not working, an addendum: âI can grow to be good enough.â
Finally, the 5th and final main cause of writersâ block is this: youâre too damn tired to think!
Sometimes, friends, weâre just fucking tired. We are human, after all, not writing machines.
If you find yourself drifting off, losing focus, or chugging caffeine to get through a writing session, if you you canât even bring yourself to open your manuscript, you might just be tired.
The solution is super simple (though often hard to get ourselves to do). Give yourself permission to rest without feeling guilty about it. Take a nap. Go for a walk. Snuggle your pets or loved ones. When youâre rested, ideas will flow again.
We tend to think rest is for the weak, or that if we rest whenever weâre tired, weâll never finish our novels. The truth, though, is the opposite.
If we want a sustainable writing career, we need to be able to breaks. Pushing ourselves to keep creating even when we are physically, mentally, and emotionally tired is a huge risk factor for getting burnt out.
So, to summaries, the 5 causes of writersâ block are:
1. The story is going in the wrong direction
2. Youâre putting too much pressure on yourself
3. You think thereâs a right way (aka youâre afraid to do it wrong)
4. You doubt your ability to write this story and
5. Youâre too damn tired to think
Once you can figure out the cause of your block, you can implement a tailored solution to get the words flowing again, without working yourself into the ground.
If youâre not on my newsletter yet, make sure you sign up to get a free PDF that outlines the 5 causes and solutions we talked about today. Check the link in the description.
And if youâre ready to love writing again, I invite you to join my 4-month coaching program, where youâll learn to trust your creative instincts and burnout proof your entire career. You can learn more at my website, www.IsabelSterling.com
Until next time, happy writing!
