49 Great Escapes from Writer's Block
by Tina KonstantPublish: Dec 13, 2013Series: The Writing Publishing LodgeAdvice & How To Book Overview
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Feeling stuck and frustrated. You’re not writing what you want to write. Maybe you’re not writing at all! That’s okay. The good news is you’ve recognised something is wrong, and you’re taking steps to fix it. Before we begin, I’d like you to remember two things: 1) You’re not making this up, you’re not lazy, and you’re not going crazy. Writer’s block is real. People who say it isn’t have simply not experienced it. 2) You can fix this. Right now, your writer’s mind is tied in a knot. It’s no big deal. You have the ball of string in your hands, and you’re ready to unravel it. If you handle the knot bit at a time, you’ll have it cleared quickly. The trouble is, until now, all you’ve seen is a bundle of chaos which means the problem appears bigger than it is. Sit back, put your feet up and relax. That’s step one! Fact is, you're in a Catch-22 that isn't a Catch-22. The only way to be the writer you want to be is to write! The more you write, craft and publish your work, the more likely you are to write more, and the better you’ll get. It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s an evolution that takes time, effort, patience, diligence, and a calm and peaceful approach to your journey. It also takes looking in the mirror and not taking yourself so seriously. Fortunately, that’s exactly the attitude you need to get out of Writer’s Block. How did you get here?Writer’s Block isn't something you consciously walk into. It’s something that builds around you while you’re not looking. One moment you think you’re making progress... then things get fuzzy... then you look up and all you see is a brick wall. When you look back and analyse what went wrong, you might see the triggers: a hard rejection, characters that just won’t work, other priorities, knowledge gap, bad book sales, fear of rejection, bored with the book you were working on, a comment from someone you trusted… Whatever the trigger, the result is that you stopped being able to write what you wanted to write. Let me say that again: You stopped being able to write what you wanted to write. During my two-year stint in writer’s block, I worked harder and wrote more than ever before. But not a single word was what I wanted to write. Getting out took concentrated effort. I’m not going to kid you on – it took some pretty serious soul-searching and hard graft. It took a new attitude to my work and (for me anyway) life in general. It took a new approach to how I dealt with rejection and how I managed my writing process. It took real change. How this book works? Everyone is different. As a result, some strategies in this book are practical, some are about your head-space, some appear more than once (but are approached from a different direction), and some have a great deal to do not just with writer’s block but with becoming a better writer. Since everyone is different and starting from a different place, there is no order to the chapters. Just flip through the book and read whatever catches your eye. Chances are, that’s the idea or tool you need most at the moment. I’m happy to join you in your Great Escape! Tina Konstant
