My favorite response to this question is to say that writer’s block doesn’t really exist. All writers experience periods of being more prolific than during some other period of time. And most writers have a story about a time when a story was so easy that it essentially “wrote itself.” More often, though, it isn’t easy for most writers I know.
I think people have different definitions of “writer’s block.” If you’re talking about a day when you’d sooner scrub the inside of the toilet with a toothbrush than face the blank computer screen, well, welcome to the club. Very few writers I know face a new manuscript or an unfinished one without trepidation. Some days it’s worse than others when you’re struggling with a problem a story has presented you with, a brick wall, a “block”. It’s harder, no doubt about it, to write on a day like that, but my point is that it’s still possible. It’s also not a bad idea to take time off from troublesome work; and that doesn’t have to mean you’re “blocked.” Think of it as gestation.
As an author, I go through long periods of time where I don’t produce any new work. I would not classify this as a time when I am blocked. At any moment, I can (and sometimes do) sit down, start a new story, revise an old one or work on something I started and never finished. For me, it’s a matter of reserving and respecting the time for my own work. Once I’ve carved that out, there are good times and bad times at the computer, but never would I say I experience writer’s block. I have periods where I’m quite unproductive, but it’s not for lack of something to say. It’s about being busy, or managing my time poorly, it’s not about feeling mute or abandoned by the muse. To the contrary, after a long hiatus, I often gush the next thing out, like all that waiting just made me more fluent once I parked myself at the computer.
I encourage writers out there to not believe in “writer’s block.” Writing always takes on a rhythmic pattern, and lows are as necessary as the highs. Refuse to believe in such a thing as a writer’s block. Allow yourself time off without feeling guilty about being unproductive. Reinterpret the experience of a day when you sit in front of a blank screen for hours and no words come. To me, that’s a day when mental work took place, and any writer will tell you that much of a story or novel’s development takes place in the writer’s head, before it becomes words on a page.
Sometimes listening to music is the KEY to getting write of writer’s blockage- music, as you know, makes the world go round 😉 I like to find songs from TV Shows/Movies, I will download for the chapters I am writing/ editing. This is the site: https://www.tunefind.com/
