Writer’s block is just an excuse to not write. It doesn’t really exist. After reading that you will either be nodding your head in agreement, or about to rage quit this blog; but give me a chance to share my thoughts first, as it’s just an opinion. Writers get stuck with what they are writing. It happens to me all the time, but I don’t consider it writer’s block. My muse hasn’t flown out the window. I am just stuck.
A few weeks ago, I was working on my debut middle-grade novel, Diary of a Martian. The story is about two-thirds done. I reached one section of the story where I knew where the characters had to end up, but I was struggling with a convincing way of getting them to that point. I wrestled with the problem for about an hour. Still no joy. I walked to see if the answer would come to me. It didn’t. I was stuck. Hmm, what to do? I could have pleaded that I had writers’ block, shut my laptop and do something else entirely, but that’s silly and not professional.
I am a professional writer. I write for a living. Fiction may be new to me, but I have written a lot of non-fiction material. Instead I switched to something else; another writing project. I have another non-fiction book in the early stages that I am working on, so I carried on with that book. I had already outlined the next few chapters, so I knew what I needed to write. I carried on working on that non-fiction book for another four days solid.
When doing the school run, and picking my son up, I left a little earlier and did a longer walk that ended up at the school; it was a sunny day. I loaded up a TV show score on my phone (the score for Picard series 1; the music is better than the show) and off I trot. Just over halfway through the walk, I had an epiphany. I figured out how to solve my plot problem. Was it the music that helped, or the walk? Don’t know. Why didn’t I think of this idea initially? Well, I was stuck, but now I had the answer. I pulled out my phone, loaded up the voice recorder and made a few audio notes. Satisfied, and with a big smile on my face, I finished the walk and picked up my son from school.
That evening, I loaded up my novel in Scrivener, and finished writing the first draft for the section that was causing me issues. I wasn’t blocked. My muse may have been confused, but he chose to work on something else instead.
But Stephen, what if you had also become stuck with the non-fiction book at the same time? Then what would you do? Well, I have this blog, and a list of posts I want to write. I would work on one of those. It’s still writing. I have a collection of short stories that I have been working on. I could continue with one of those. I have quite a few other children’s novel ideas rattling around in my brain. I could make notes on those ideas; start their beat sheets, write profiles for the characters. I produce online training courses as part of my business. They are all scripted. I can carry on with the current course I am writing. There is always something to be getting on with.
There is a good way to summarise this:
Professional writers don’t get blocked. They get stuck, and then do something else temporarily.
Amateurs or hobby writers get stuck, think they are blocked, and then procrastinate.
I say choose the professional mindset. Just work on something else until you become unstuck. You don’t have a car mechanic claim to be blocked when fixing a car and then give up. They get help, or fix another car. Plumbers don’t get plumbers block. Professionals don’t claim <name of profession> block, they get stuck, try to fix the issue, or carry on with something else that needs doing for their profession, and come back to the problem later.
As with anything, this is just my opinion. You may agree, or you may disagree. That’s fine. Either way, leave a comment and let me know your take on writer’s block.