3 Reasons your “Writer’s Block” may not be about the writing itself

You recognize the feeling, right? The moment when you know you should be writing, but you aren’t writing and it’s making you crazy and you need to get past it but you’re not sure how. The pen’s in your hand but the paper in front of you has nothing on it. You’re sitting in front of your computer in your cozy writing nook in your home, or the library, or the neighborhood coffee shop, but the screen is blank. The cursor’s blinking on and off like an evil eye. You’re stuck with no idea what to do.

What’s happening may not be about your writing, but the messages you’re sending yourself about your writing.

• Perfectionism may have crept in. You start telling yourself what you write isn’t good enough. You read your last chapter and think it’s crap. You pick up the latest Celeste Ng and compare your story to hers. You read Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow and despair of ever writing such perfect prose. You read through your character’s pivotal encounter with her mother and realize your words just lie there, flat and lifeless on the page. Why even try this writing thing if you can’t be any good at it? And by good you mean landing a top agent (which you haven’t been able to do) or winning a writing competition (and runner-up doesn’t count). Remember the only person to compare yourself to is YOU. Shoot for improving your own writing, which means re-reading a craft book, or joining a critique group, or taking a workshop. Or just going back to the first thing you wrote and realizing how much better you’ve gotten in the time since.

• Or maybe the problem is, have you or someone in your family been ill? Have you been getting enough sleep? Is the job that pays the bills zapping all your energy? Have holiday shopping, a long-planned vacation, or a series of social commitments gotten in the way? If so, stop worrying. All these are time limited. Once you’re through them, you can pick up where you left off on your manuscript. Until then, concentrate on getting well/solving problems/enjoying life rather than beating yourself up. It’s called SELF-CARE and it’s vital to your mental health.

• Or it could be fear that’s at the root of your impasse. Are you writing about issues you feel passionate about but they’re dredging up old tapes, exposing old wounds, making you re-examine and relive emotional landmines from your past? Or is it new fears, like what if you lay bare your soul and your work gets rejected—by friends, by critique partners, by agents? What if your writing skills aren’t developed enough to do justice to this story? If so, remember why you chose to write this to begin with—how you wanted to tell what happened to you so your readers would know they weren’t alone. This goal is noble and brave. Keep writing, find your way through the pain, know there are readers out there who need to read your words.

And if all else fails, settle in front of the fireplace, kick off your shoes, fix yourself a hot toddy, and READ A GOOD BOOK.  It’s pretty darn close to writing, and it will feed your soul until you’re ready to begin again in the New Year.