Sometimes, regardless of how much planning you’ve done, you encounter points in your writing that seem like impenetrable mountains to climb. You’ve geared up and are all ready to go, but then when you actually get to the bottom of the mountain, you look up and realise you have no idea how you’re getting to the top.
I’ve hit a few mountains already in my current writing project, but the one I’m experiencing now has me the most stumped. I have no idea where I want to go from here, and even my page-a-day procession has been halted, no writing being done for the past three days. It’s frustrating to think of the time lost, but even more frustrating is the knowledge that I still have no direction to go in.
I think the only thing I can do is to keep pushing on, to climb that mountain one rock at a time, however clumsily, and hope that I’ll reach the top sooner rather than later. A good thing to remind myself is that this is only a first draft, a very rough first draft. My ill-fated attempts to climb the mountain right now can be fixed later on, so long as I keep going.
I think that’s my best advice in regards to writer’s block. Just keep going, even if it’s crap. You can fix it later. There’s no point now in getting hung up on things you’re unsure about. Get to the stuff you are sure about, by whatever means, and then later you can return to clean up all your crap. What is writing if not to clean up your crap after all?
That’s definitely easier said than done, though. Writing cringey scenes makes my blood curdle; I want everything to be perfect the first time, which is, of course, completely unreasonable.
I just need to spend some time today to really focus on the top of that mountain. I’ll get there eventually. Once I figure out how, it’ll never look easier.
What’s your best method for dealing with writer’s block?
violetsams 