Writer’s block doesn’t exist.

Does it?

When it comes to writing, I have always been a pantser.

I begin with an idea, a vague notion of the plot and off I go, writing into the sunset.

This time, however, with a deadline on the horizon, I sit at my desk each day and find myself quite unable to move on until I have fiddled about with yesterday’s text.

The image is telling: this is slowing me down. And it’s been happening for a couple of weeks.

Am I losing my  mojo?

No. Definitely not. Every morning I am eager to get on with the book. Every author has a few setbacks, re-writing paragraphs, adding in forgotten points, removing extraneous text. This time it was different. I have been re-reading my work, making small changes, spending hours at the typeface, but only achieving a few hundred extra words. If that.

I have been tinkering with my prose, to a point where I am not making progress.

Suddenly my writing schedule is slipping behind.

Tinkering

I looked up the word in the Oxford English Dictionary. In the learner’s dictionary. After all, I wanted an easily understood answer.

Tinkering: let’s read that last bit again

“in a way that may not be helpful”

Too right it’s not helpful!  I need to get words written, to make progress. But unhelpful? That cannot be correct.

I am a professional author.
I edit.
The changes I make improve my work.

Don’t they?

Well, in this case, no. I may be euphemistically calling what I am doing editing, but in fact my tinkering is procrastinating.

So, what is wrong with me?

Could it be… gasp shock horror….

fredrik Andreasson from Sweden,  via Wikimedia Commons

The dreaded writer’s block?

According to Mike Rose—an American scholar of education who studied literacy and the struggles of working-class America (thank you Wikipedia)—this can be defined as “the inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than a lack of basic skill or commitment” (university of Illinois Springfield).

Noooo!  In more than 40 years as an author, I have never had any problems with writer’s block. Journalists can’t afford it. Nurses and doctors can’t afford it. And I certainly can’t afford it now.

I am getting old, my clock is ticking. I have books to write, stories to tell and I don’t have the time for writer’s block!

Having started down this rabbit hole…

…I went a bit deeper (okay, classic distraction technique). An awful lot has been written about writer’s block (ironic, or what?). There is an interesting piece by Suw Charman-Anderson from May this year, describing what science can tell us about writer’s block.

I found that even Penguin Random House are offering advice on how to beat the dreaded block. But it doesn’t apply to me, does it?

Let’s look at their suggestions

I have been taking long walks with my lovely new writing assistant Delphi (and who wouldn’t want an excuse to put in a few pictures of this adorable creature?)

But even taking time out for long, reflective walks on the beach or over the moors, watching tv, reading something different, etc etc etc, I was still going back to the book, convinced that everything was okay. I could do this. A bit more tinkering would sort it out.

So…was it writer’s block?

Then, after another day at the the chalkface, I realised why I have been tinkering.I have been writing myself into a corner.  In my head, I had my story sorted. The characters were coming along nicely, I had dark moments for them to overcome, and I knew where I was going.

BUT…. there was one plot point that I had not addressed. It was in the future and for some reason I couldn’t see that I really needed to plan it out. It was a fairly minor point on timing, and I was convinced it didn’t need sorting yet.

But now I realised this point is crucial to my setting up the scene. I needed to set out in advance who was going to be where, and when. So I sat down with a pencil and paper and thought out various scenarios that would deal with the timing difficulty.

I needed a cunning plan.

Later the same day, I sat down for my regular zoom meeting with the Quayistas, writing buddies I have known for many years and whom I trust enough to discuss these things with them. I took a deep breath and sounded out my ideas.

A problem shared…

And even as I was explaining it, everything dropped into place.

So thank you, ladies, it is important to have someone to share ideas with.

It seems quite obvious now

My characters were never going to follow the time-scale for the scene I had in mind. I needed an extra character, a minion, and thanks to that zoom chat, I now have the problem sorted.

Perhaps it was a form of writer’s block. I was certainly in denial that there was anything wrong, trusting that it would all work out in the end.

It just shows that even after all this time, after 50+ books published, I can still be caught out by something so simple.

Now I am settling down to crack on and get this book finished.

Wish me luck.

Sarah