We’ve all experienced the common nemisis…writer’s block. It appears when we least expect it and takes away our trusty muse. Some authors and illustrators fight it. Some try to ignore it. Creatives rally together in the disdain they have for the feeling of not having anything to say, not being sure what to write, and being anxious over what to draw next. Take courage and learn how these successful authors handle and overcome writer’s block.

Helping us solve the riddle of writer’s block are 6 hard working authors who have fought against writer’s block and lived to continue telling their tales.

• Joy Nelkin Wieder, @JoyWieder, The Passover Mouse (Doubleday BFYR)
• Jolene Gutiérrez, @WriterJolene, Mac and Cheese and the Personal Space Invader (Clear Fork / Spork)
• Debbie Dadey, @DebbieDadey, The Narwhal Problem (Aladin Books) (Mermaid Tales)
• Bonnie Clark, @BonClark, Taste Your Words (Worthy Kids / Ideals)
• Thane Keller, @ThaneKeller, Trials, Conquests of Brokk series, and A New Heart.
• Lisa Wheeler, @LisaWheelerBook, People Don’t Bite People (Atheneum BFYR) and Dino-series books.

What does writer’s block look or feel like?

Joy: When I’m in the flow, ideas and characters come knocking on my door and actually speak to me. I knew I was in a deep writer’s block when my characters literally stopped speaking to me. It was lonely! I felt like I was wandering in a creative wilderness and couldn’t find my way back to the path.

Jolene: Writer’s block is like a well running dry. I grew up on a farm, where we relied on our well water. There was never enough. I loved roses and wanted to grow rose bushes as a child, but my mom always told me we didn’t have enough water to grow roses. To me, writer’s block feels like that. Wanting something so desperately, but not having the resources or ideas to sustain it.

Debbie: There has never been a day when I could not write, but there have been plenty of days when I could not write well! I think that may be the secret: to keep trying and to write through the junk to get to the good stuff. You can’t edit a blank page.

Bonnie: Writer’s block feels like being stuck. It is when a current idea won’t move or cooperate with your vision or manipulation, or if you’ve finished a project and suddenly you are void of inspiration. It can make you feel like maybe writing isn’t for you, but it’s something that all writers go through. It’s a rite of passage.

Thane: Writer’s block is when you feel as if you can’t create anything new or you’ve had a huge reduction in progress from your typical writing. When I experience writer’s block it feels like my creativity has left me – I literally don’t have any story ideas.

Lisa: For me, writer’s block is the absence of things. No ideas. No desire to write. And I usually have to fight the feeling that I’ve lost my mojo and am all washed up.

How do you break through writer’s block?

Joy: One of the best tools I have for breaking through writers’ block is to re-read Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity. Once I re-start my practice of morning pages (three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning), the ideas start flowing, and I am on the creative path again.

Jolene: Just like you prime a well pump to get the water flowing, I have to prepare my mind and my writing to keep the ideas flowing. My way of combating writer’s block is to keep myself busy with multiple projects. If I’m stuck on one project, I’ll set it aside and work on something else. My subconscious will continue contemplating the piece I’m struggling with and I’ll eventually be able to come back to it, but in the meantime, I give myself a break from the manuscript I’m stuck on. I also write a variety of genres, and that helps to keep things interesting and fun.

Debbie: I think realizing that this is a draft and it doesn’t have to be perfect can be very freeing. I like to read over what I wrote yesterday and that gets me in the right mindset.

Bonnie: For me, I have to trick my creativity. I have to ignore that idea that won’t cooperate until it wants to work with me again. I distract myself with other writing projects OR I take a break from writing all together and read everything I can in my genre. Inspiration sometimes comes back when you read something intriguing, or it may visit when you are just living in the moment. Writer’s block can be frustrating if you let it, but I’ve found that if I approach it with curiosity and take a few detours, eventually I will become unblocked.

Thane: The good news is that writer’s block is more environmental than anything else. Check your routine and distractions. What were you doing the last time you got that great idea and what are you doing now? Are there new things that have “popped” up recently taking the place of creativity? If you really can’t point to something else taking your time, then I suggest three things. First, read other books in your genre. Second, dedicate 30 minutes each day to telling a short story about your main characters in a completely different setting in their past or future. Third, exercise or explore somewhere new.

Lisa: I read and read. I take walks. I write notes and letters. I work out, putter around the house, start a new project that allows me to be creative, but isn’t anything like writing.

How can creatives protect themselves from writer’s block or get it less often?

Joy: People say that you have to write every day, but it doesn’t have to be “good” writing or “productive” writing. It can be any kind of writing – like morning pages! Just keep yourself in the flow somehow and the block will pass more easily and quickly.

Jolene: Many writers are very hard workers and perfectionists, but stress can make our wells run dry. To fill your well, try being kind to yourself. Spend time in nature. Hang around kids or animals. Create art. Do things that make you happy! Also, carry a notebook or use a note-taking app on your phone to record some of the ideas that come to you throughout the day. These ideas could be the start of a new book or a way to unstick your stuckness, but either way, ideas are drops in the bucket that will fill our well.

Debbie: Belonging to a support group like a critique group can be very helpful. I like getting concrete suggestions to make my writing better. Writing can be a lonely profession, so getting together with other writers can be uplifting.

Bonnie: Try a new thing! Read something different. Change your routine. Try writing in a different environment- a coffee shop, a park, a friends cool tree house (I’ve done that one!) Trick your creativity into coming back to you by seeing writer’s block as a gift- an invitation to shake things up. And when you least expect it, your inspiration will return – ready to share in the adventure.

Thane: Guarding your creative schedule is the most powerful way to prevent or reduce writer’s block. If you dedicate the same time each day to either reading, writing, or mind-mapping ideas your brain will get into the habit of turning on. Other ways are to work actively to reduce the stressors in your life or decrease your busy schedule. This is probably hardest when you have a family, but dedicate some time each morning or night to disciplined creativity and do it in a place where your kids or spouse can quietly be their own creative. The discipline is what will pay dividends in the long run.

Lisa: I think a healthy diet of reading helps. But we have to be more forgiving of ourselves. I truly don’t believe in the “block” so much as a “gathering time”. We all need to recharge and take good things in before we can pour good things out.

Your turn!

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Now, go write. Write bad. Write good. And write everything in between.

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