Do you believe in writers'
block?
Some authors say it's an imagined affliction: that there's no such thing as writers' block.
I'm not so sure. While I've not experienced
the total block that some writers talk about suffering from, I've definitely had times in my life when I had little or no desire to write. During both my pregnancies, I lost my enthusiasm for writing fiction, for instance.
Whether you call it "writers' block" or not, I think almost all writers have
experienced times when the words did not flow at all easily.
If you feel like you just can't find the motivation to write, you might want to try:
- Playing around with writing. Have fun working on something that won't ever be read: make it as strange and experimental as you like!
- Taking a proper break from writing. Maybe you just need to give yourself permission to have a writing holiday: to not write (and to banish any guilt about that).
- Examining what you're working on, to see if that's the problem. A block might well be caused by your work ... not by you yourself. Maybe you feel unenthused by your novel -- the real issue might be that, deep down, you know the plot isn't working.
Ultimately ... be kind to yourself. Ask
yourself what you want or need most right now. That might be something as simple as a nap, or something a bit more involved, like rearranging your family's schedule so you get some proper down time every weekend. How could you go about getting what you want/need? If you can't easily get it immediately, how could you move towards
it?
