Writer's Block

Every writer has experienced writer's block. We just don't know what to put on the page next. Or, what I find more commonly the case, I know what I want to convey but just can't seem to find the right words to express it.

The best way to deal with writer's block is to move on and come back to your problem later. The equivalent of saying "pass" on a tough series of quiz questions. By the time you return, hopefully an idea will have sparked.

But when I suggest moving on, I don't mean it's time to go do the laundry. No. Move on to the next bit of dialogue in the scene. Or consider how you might start the next chapter. Or go back to the start of the chapter you're working on and begin to edit.

We have so many distractions when we write, and to do it effectively means having the discipline to resist the trip to the kitchen for a snack, or checking e-mail (even though you just checked it ten minutes ago), or deciding it's a good time to confirm your bank balance online. Keep writing.

Of course, you could always pick up a book and read someone else's marvelous prose, admire the way the words flowed so easily from their pen to the page. "Why can't I do that?" you'll say, while kicking yourself. What you forget is that the person whose prose you admire may well have spent hours perfecting a page, a paragraph, a key description... until everything came together.

I've often thought about the fact that it takes me about a year to write a novel length mystery, while the reader can finish it in five or six hours. And they have no clue of how many times I threw up my hands while stuck on a word, phrase or idea.

I figured out a great way to cure my writer's block recently: I wrote this blog post. :-)

Tell me about your writing journey. Do you have a special technique for dealing with writer's block? Please share, and keep the conversation going.