How to Smash Through Writer's Block

Ah, the dreaded writer's block. That singular affliction of writers, a disease of the mind that paralyzes the fingertips, making authors stare at an endless expanse of white screen, a reflection of their empty minds, fingers hovering over the keyboard. A catatonic state that can last days, or sometimes weeks.

A disease with no cure save for the passage of time.

Luckily, as a physician, I've studied this disease extensively, and I've come up with a cure!

How to Smash Through The Block:

Writer's block is caused by the (mostly false) belief that you need to be inspired to write. Nothing is further from the fact, I'm not inspired to write this at all! 

Your muse, that strange, uncontrollable part of your mind that is the source of your creativity, is lazy. A damn, no good, lazy bastard. It's that roommate who lays on the couch all day smoking weed and watching Netflix while eating your food. You need to kick it to make it work. Or find some other way to inspire it.

How do you do that?


That's right...write. Put your fingers on the keyboard and start typing. See, at first your muse will remain silent. Your writing will be forced and uninspired. But as you write, ideas will start to flow, and you'll find yourself entering a groove. Your muse will start talking to you.

You need to write to become inspired, not the other way around.

I don't suffer writer's block anymore, because I write every day that I can. If I'm stuck, I outline. Or just force myself to type. I can (and often do) delete a bit of what comes onto the page, but that's okay. Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series, said that when he looked back at his novels, he couldn't tell the difference between the quality of his writing when he was inspired, and when he was just plowing through, forcing himself to write.

So write!

If you haven't written a book yet, that's your secret to success. Just write. It doesn't need to be perfect the first time...that's what editing is for. You're never going to build muscles if you just think about going to the gym. You have to go almost every day, whether you feel like it or not. The same goes with writing. Don't talk about it, don't think about it. Just do it.

Half the time I sit down to write, I have the urge to do something else. It just seems too hard at the moment. I don't feel inspired. Then I start writing, and boom, the words just come. So kick your muse, and start writing!

Like, now. Stop reading this and write something!