The secret to writing is there is no secret.
You’ve probably seen it before, the fool-proof instructions for being a writer.
- Sit down.
- 2) Write.
That’s pretty much it.
But what, I hear you (the fictional audience that lives in my imagination) say, what about that infamous writer’s block? What if you can’t write? Well. Some writers talk about inspiration, or their muse, or all kinds of other things to get them “in the mood”.
Those things are generally complete bullshit. (However strongly the speaker might believe it to be true.) There is, I have found, only one sure-fire way to get past writer’s block. And it is, guess what?
Write.
What you write at that point might be crap. It might be the worst thing you’ve ever written. But see, that doesn’t matter. What will happen is you’ll be flinging that crap onto the page and then suddenly you’ll be past the ephemeral “writer’s block” and that is the important part.
I’ve tried all kinds of other methods of finding inspiration or getting myself into the right mindset or whatever else you might want to call it but in the end, let’s be honest with ourselves. All of those things are just fancy procrastination techniques. They don’t break the writer’s block; they just feed it. Saying you don’t know what to write next, or you’re stuck on this scene, or you aren’t in the right mood, or your muse has abandoned you, or you lack inspiration, those are all just excuses to put off writing.
Sometimes, it’s okay to give in to the excuses. Sometimes you really do need a break in order to avoid exhausting yourself or making yourself hate life more than absolutely necessary. But what it comes down to, really, is that if what you really want to do is write, then that’s what you should be doing.
So do it!
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