When the Writer's Block Strikes...

from the writer's desk #4

Jun 21, 2024

The Pond at Montfoucault, Camille Pissarro, 1874

“Somehow, then, God must contrive to break through those routines of ours and remind us once again, like Israel, that we are ultimately dependent only upon Him, that He has made us and destined us for life with Him through all eternity, that the things of this world and this world itself are not our lasting city, that His we are and that we must look to Him and turn to Him in everything.

Walter J. Ciszek, He Leadeth Me

Hi all! This is my first week of weekly newsletters (aside from NaNo last year) — let’s go! Newsletters should be coming your way every (or realistically most) Fridays going forward. I’ve also decided to combine my writing updates and book recommendations into one, alternating between these and my new series of creativity challenges, which began last week, if you missed it! Logistical update over, moving on.

Little Writing Chit Chat

So yeah, just as the title says, I’ve had a bit of a case of writer’s block these past two weeks. And of course, as it often does, it struck just as I was starting to feel like things were going very smoothly.

Now. It’s far from the worst case. I’ve still gotten words on the page, and this week has been much better than last. It’s just been painfully slow going. Trying to push through has felt like a bit of a chore and yet… here we are.

Now though. What is to be done about this?

Because I’m not here to mope and complain. Writer’s block is just writer’s block. Every writer has experienced a feeling of being stuck when looking at a blank page before. It’s fine. It’s normal. It’s nothing to freak out about.

You get a case of it, you read some quotes from famous authors about writer’s block and its debatable existence, and you try to approach things from a different angle.

Because while writer’s block can be an indication of a real problem (and therefore it’s not just something to totally ignore), it’s still usually solved by actively addressing it, rather than just waiting for it to go away. Throwing up one’s hands in the face of writer’s block, at least in my experience, means it’s going to stick around until our fickle friend of *inspiration* shows up… and she’s notoriously unreliable.

Soooo… we’re not going to do that.

We’re going to show up anyway.

We’re going try something new instead of just running at the wall over and over again.

And we’re going to trust that writer’s block is something that comes and goes, just as really good days come and go, and really average days come and go.

I’m not fully through it yet (some of this block comes from the simple fact I’m in the middle, laying the groundwork before the really fun stuff at the end)… but it has gotten a lot better.

And I’d today like share to some things I’ve tried recently that have at least kept me going, however slowly, through this past week or two. This is not an exhaustive or prescriptive list by any means, but it is always helpful to have a wide toolkit at your disposal, things to try should you find yourself in this lovely position as well. I hope they can help you as they have helped me!

it was nice and sunny this week and last at least :)

So this first one was totally a shot in the dark, but last week, I tried to write with nothing else other than good old pen and paper to get out of my rut.

And honestly, when my block was at its worst, this was the only thing that kept me moving. I can’t say it actually solved what needed to be solved (that’s coming), but I’ve found that in most areas of life action creates motivation rather than the other way around. Writing makes more writing, and this momentum, however slow it is, is always important for me to maintain.

Last week, that needed to be long-hand writing.

There were three benefits to this.

One. Scribbling in a notebook tends to shut down my inner editor. It looks messy, so it’s easier to forgive messiness in wording or even in what a character says or does. Some writers swear by typing out a first draft in a silly font like comic sans to this end. It’s the same idea. You’ve got to take yourself lightly sometimes. Freedom from expectations that are too high is essential when it comes to overcoming writer’s block.

Two. It granted me a bit more time to work. My “typing on computer” time is limited by virtue of my motherhood. I am fortunate to have a lot of familial help with my son, but I am at the end of the day (happy to be!) his primary caregiver. I’ve got, on a good day, a two hour block in the early morning and a two hour block in the afternoon to work without interruption. This is actually quite a decent amount in the grand scheme of things, but the individual sessions are short. I need to move quickly and know what’s going on to be able to do that — to which writer’s block says, “No, you don’t.”

Alas.

But notebook-ing is a little more flexible. It’s easier to do around my son while he runs around outside, picking flowers and bringing them over as I write. Its flow, for me at least, just feels different and is a lot more easily interrupted.

Once that was done, I would type out and improve the prose during my actual work block, giving me something to do instead of be frustrated at my screen for two hours. Even if I hand-wrote and transcribed only like 400 words, it was better than nothing.

Three. It’s a change in environment and routine. Now, routines are great. I love having habits and rituals that are so ingrained into the day that they make everything easier. But… you do need to breathe fresh air into them sometimes. Sometimes literally. I have been fortunate to be able to write outdoors a lot recently, which has been simply lovely. It’s something I’d love to be able to do more often, and writing long-hand made this option completely natural and easy to choose.

For a less involved version of writing a chapter by hand, I have done in the past what I’ve called “pre-writing,” a very detailed brain dump/ outline immediately preceding the writing of a chapter. Get it all down, and then write for real. I always do my “pre-write” by hand, and they are truly just notes to help clarify the purpose of a chapter, remember what ideas are in my head (including dialogue chunks, descriptive prose, and diagrams breaking down more complex concepts), and to find new ideas to flesh out the tricky spots. Because you know well I always love an outline. So perhaps that could be worth a try too if you clicked on this looking for a way out of a case of writer’s block. It has helped me many times before!

Next up came notes — and lots of them!

This is related to that pre-writing idea that I just mentioned, but it’s a bit bigger picture. Going through my problem chapter last week, things were kind of just… happening. It was pure plot, a little bit of worldbuilding and description, but character and theme and all the good stuff all felt quite flat to me.

The chapter was purely functional, and while it took me a few days to realize it… this was a problem. Nothing in a story should be purely functional — every chapter needs to both drive things forward (however simply) and be worth reading in itself (however subtly).

I needed to find a purpose for this part of the story other than moving things from point a to point b and dropping a bit of backstory exposition. It needed to be engaging and interesting in its own right. To do that, I needed to make a bit of a calculated retreat and go back to the drawing board.

What were the basics of this POV character’s voice and arc? How does he actually react in a crisis, and what does this say about him as a unique individual? Where do I want him to go, and how do I use his relationship with the events of this chapter and the other characters present within it to drive that forward?

These feel like weird questions to ask while revising and writing a second draft, because you feel like you already know these things having already written through a version of them once. But sometimes you don’t realize how little you knew and how many problems were caused by a single area of under-development until you try to actually sketch out the big picture.

Soooo… I answered them.

And, guys, while fixing this, I came up with some good stuff.

I’m so happy with all of it, and now I’m looking forward so much more to writing the rest of this plotline! It has the capacity to draw together so many more things than I expected and AGH! yES. I’m just excited now.

While I’m still a little bit behind my intended revision schedule because of this case of writer’s block, I’m feeling a lot better and starting to make progress again now. My problem chapter needed to be split in two, and I’m completely done with the first one. Today I begin the second with a much stronger plan in mind. We’re moving!

And beyond the two more practical ways of tackling the problem of writer’s block I just described, there have been other little things that have just added up.

I’ve made sure to not be a little gremlin tied to my desk — still getting outside and doing things and seeing people because I am a human being first and a writer second. Let’s not let a little case of block turn into burnout, thanks.

I played around with reading and sketching and painting, and it’s been lovely to engage different kinds of creative and mental muscles — especially because these are easier to involve my son in and do throughout the day.

I’ve had some writing talks with my husband and a good friend of mine about what they’ve read so far of the book and their thoughts on it. Which last night sent me off on another massive brainstorming session which similarly resulted in a double page spread of super detailed notes.

I’ve brought prayer into the picture, because God should be present in all that we do. Even little struggles like a week or so of writer’s block — so unimportant in the grand scheme of things — can serve as good reminders of the fact that we are imperfect and cannot simply will ourselves into our ideal life. We need Him.

All in all, while mildly frustrating, these two weeks have been a valuable experience overall.

That’s the surprising gift of writer’s block — learning new ways to write is a very good thing. Switching back and forth between longhand rough drafting and work block transcription is absolutely a tool I can see myself using going forward. Taking a step back to work on bigger picture character issues will be such a gift as I progress through the rest of this draft. And the experience of overcoming writer’s block will someday be evidence for me that these things can be beaten whenever I come up on a block next. Because I will, and that’s okay.

And now for the books!

(Or… book. I’ll only be doing one of these each newsletter now as I’ll be sending these out twice a month. FYI.)

Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

I’ve been on a bit of a Studio Ghibli kick recently, for context.

Now of course, you may be more familiar with the movie version of Howl’s Moving Castle, which I do certainly enjoy. But I am happy to say, as I had often heard, the book is considerably better.

The basic premise is the same. Sophie Hatter is transformed into an old woman by the bitter and jealous Witch of the Waste. Seemingly with nothing else to lose, she ends up journeying to our titular Moving Castle. There lives the most powerful fop of a wizard Howl, along with his contracted fire demon Calcifer and his apprentice Michael. Various ridiculous encounters ensue as we try to navigate the spell on Sophie and the issue of Howl and Calcifer’s contract.

Then things escalate… and that’s where things really begin to diverge. I always found the ultimate plot of the movie to feel a little bit out of left field and all over the place, whereas the book’s felt more like the natural consequence of the set-up of the story. The cast is also a lot more colorful. One, it’s larger and more people have significance in the narrative, which is great. More importantly though, Sophie and Howl are both a lot messier as people. This makes things ten times funnier — I laughed out loud through so much of this book — and it makes the ending a lot more satisfying. Their happy ending feels a lot more earned having overcome not only the exterior conflict, but their personal issues with themselves and each other alike.

I like movie Howl and movie Sophie.

I love, love, love book Howl and book Sophie, disasters though they are.

And if you have perchance read the book yourself, let me know your thoughts on it down in the comments below — I know plenty of people who’ve watched the movie but none (that I’m aware) of who’ve read the book… and I’m kind of in love with it and would be happy to talk about it.

But… I think that’s that, my friends.

Thank you so much, as always, for reading. If you enjoyed these musings and are not subscribed already, please do subscribe. I would love if you could stick around and learn a little bit more about the insane process that is writing a novel while mothering — in all its magnificent ups and downs.

But as a closing question for today, what do you do when you find yourself stuck creatively? When the dreaded writer’s block strikes even when you think you’re doing everything you need to do?

Feel free to share down in the comments or by replying to this email!