Author's Journey: Dealing with Writer's Block

Ever since I was a little girl, writing has been my passion. As a soft-spoken, introverted child, I thrived in the depths of my imagination, and writing was the main way I expressed its wonderful creations. In those days, creating stories were simple and easy, because I wrote purely for the joy of writing and to bring those various wonders to life. This era free of fear and any negative drawbacks inspired most of the works I have and will release to the world. However, two poisonous mindsets, fear of negative reception and obsession with perfection, disrupted this era and led to a more vicious disease, one which frequently plagues many literary minds and smothers millions of creative ideas each year, Writer's Block.

During my years of writing, Writer's Block has been my greatest adversary. Writer's Block is a mental ailment that prevents an author from producing new works or causes them to experience a creative slow down. For me, some symptoms were a lack of drive, loss of interest leading to procrastination, overthinking about/inflating criticisms, self-doubt in my own creative abilities, and an obsession with perfecting the project. All of these slowed down my productivity and progress leading to mental slumps.

Eyes is the first novel I completed. However, it took an additional eight years and eight months to finalize the manuscript for publication after completing the first draft in 2014. So, in actuality, it took fourteen years for me to complete Eyes since its inception in 2008.

Being a writer, like others of most trades, is not easy. During this long creative journey, there were many obstacles that slowed down my progress. Some I faced were self-doubt, stress-fueled procrastination, and lack of passion caused by Writer's Block, which eventually led to delays and prolonged hiatuses. As a writer, this was not the first time I faced these demons. However, during this writing process, they were more vicious than ever before, because I was writing something that bore inklings of my heart and soul.

Writer's Block plagued me more while constructing Eyes than with any other project. Why did this project cause more complications than others? Well, that has to do with the meaning of Eyes in the grand scheme of my writing career. Eyes was the first manuscript I completed and was initially a challenge to test my ability to finish a romance novel. This pressure from its importance and fear of possible negative criticisms weighed on my mind disabling me from utilizing my drive and shrouding me from the true reason I wrote Eyes, which was purely because I adored the characters and the story I created.

Even though writing Eyes was initially a challenge, it evolved into a test of my mental persistence and endurance while I struggled with my Writer's Block. My first step to overcoming the challenges that spawned from my Writer's Block, was to identify the problems at the core of it. Which, during this writing process, were fear and doubt. Letting these negative influences run amuck, take over my mind and stunt my progress, was the main obstacle I needed to overcome. I needed to change my mindset and find my muse.

After identifying the problem, I devised a plan and adopted some new habits to aid in overcoming the mental stalemate I was in. First, I worked on reorganizing how I approach my project and adopted a few new habits to better organize my story notes, chapters and goals. Second, I focused on redirecting my attention to the goal at hand and quieting the noise in my head of all the doubt and fear through meditating and exercising. Finally, I reacquainted myself with my drive and muse.

Here are some steps I took (I will expand on some of these steps in other posts):

1. During my rewriting phase, I adopted the outlining technique I used for writing my online works and The Pacemaker chapters and stories.

2. I also used checklist and logging techniques composed of virtual lists, physical lists and activity logs. These techniques helped with keeping track of my progress, giving visuals of what was accomplished and what still needs to be done, and allowing me to celebrate my small victories by keeping track of what I have already finished while motivating me with visual reminders of what still needs to be done and how far I am from the goal post.

   • The apps I used to maintain my checklists are Google Tasksboard, Evernote, and Apple Notes. Having these lists helped me track my progress and created a visual platform to outline my small accomplishments which served as motivation to keep pushing through to the very end. (I will expand more on my method and the apps I use in other posts.) I used Google Sheets to keep several logs of my progress during the production phase. These logs also created visuals of how long certain tasks take which I can now use for reference when it comes to future project time completion expectations.

   • I also created an Accomplishments and Goals lists then posted them on the wall by my desk. The Accomplishments list serves as a motivational reminder of the difficult obstacles I have overcome while the Goals list serves as inspiration for what I still wish to achieve. These visualizations guide my focus back to the goal at hand by motivating me with the hurdles I have already overcome and the feats I still must reach to attain my overall desire.

3. To drown out the negative noise in my mind, readopting exercise and meditating helped me a lot. Focusing on my body has slowly returned my attention towards my goals and helped me wind down during the recuperation phase after finishing Eyes.

4. Finally, I had to rediscover my drive and reacquaint myself with my muse. Doing activities that I enjoy, such as reading, taking walks, playing video games, listening to music, reorganizing/cleaning my space, dancing and practicing martial arts again, helped with acquainting with my muse and rediscovering why I write. I learned to write purely because I love writing, love inspiring others with my works and love the characters, journeys, and worlds I create.

Writer's Block has and will always be a reoccurring adversary when it comes to creating new works. However, I learned that it is more than a mental ailment but a warning. It is a reminder that we should take our time, slow down, and reflect on the real cause behind the symptoms, so our mind can recover. Take time out of your day to reduce your stress through activities you enjoy, immerse yourself in nature and take a breather, and focus on strengthening your mind and body through meditation and exercise. These steps should help with reacquainting yourself with yourself, so you can find your initial drive/muse that was lost in the confusion of the stress caused by your Writer's Block; and hopefully finish that amazing creative work that has alluded you for so long.