Stop writer’s block. It is really nerve-racking to have an interesting story in your head and not be able to get it out. All writers have a part of their brain dedicated to the graveyard of stories never told. To ideas not brought forward because of the blank page syndrome.
There are many things that can trigger a person and prevent them from performing an action. Especially something as particular as writing a book.
Writing a book requires constant commitment over an extended period of time and you have to be able to self-motivate because nobody will do it for you.
Or at least no one can write the book for you (it wouldn’t be the same).
In this article, I will tell you the most common causes of writer’s block and fill you with so much good advice that you will no longer be able to make excuses. You will write your best-seller whether you want to or not.
Why you don’t write your book
1. Thinking you are not enough
Low self-confidence has been killing dreams since the dawn of time. To do anything in life, really anything, you have to be the first to believe in your abilities.
You will not constantly have someone on your shoulder reminding you that you are enough, in the worst of times you have to grit your teeth and have confidence. Writing a book is no different from any other dream you may have.
Many stories end before they even begin because writers, especially those who have to write their first book, are assailed by doubts. Sometimes it is their writing that is not ‘enough’, sometimes their grammar, sometimes their idea.
So they wait, waiting for some help, for some sign that tells them that this is the right idea, the right time.
I want to be clear and direct.
The only right time is now.
If you do not want to fill your wrinkles with tears because you have wasted your life waiting instead of writing, write, now.
2. You compare yourself to other writers
This problem is related to the one before. Self-doubting writers have a nasty habit of making hallucinating comparisons.
If anything, they read a Stephen King book, written after a 50-year career, and since they don’t write like that, they self-delete from the world of literature.
If they can’t write the next Harry Potter, their fantasy is worthless.
I hope you already understand how idiotic this idea is, and how damaging it is.
It’s like someone who got on a horse yesterday for the first time wanting to participate in an international race. As if a child would stop playing football because Ronaldo plays better than him.
It is not fair to compare you to people who have had years and years to train and improve. And often your judgement is also wrong.
There are so many successful writers who have become known because of their first book but I assure you that while they were writing their book they had no idea whether that book would be liked by even one reader.
You will not know your worth until you put in the work.
3. You write your book for others and not for yourself
Readers first!
– me
(after the first draft)
Writers need to have this reminder stuck in front of their desks (take it from me). Sometimes we forget why we like to write, why we love to tell stories and instead make it a ‘job’.Your whole life belongs to capitalism, don’t let your art fall into that ditch too.
Set it free.
Don’t think about profit, don’t think about fame. Give importance to what is really important, your story. Get into the hearts of readers with your manuscript.
We often think so much about what the hypothetical future reader would like, that we forget to calculate what we would like.
The first draft of a story is never for a reader. The first draft serves to tell the story to you, the writer. It serves to get it out of your body (yes like you are possessed) and to see it completed on the screen.
It serves to make it real. And once you have done this you will have plenty of time at the editing stage to think about the reader.
4. You concentrate too much on each word instead of thinking about getting the story out
*deep breath to avoid shouting*
My writers, you joyful little artists, if you stop after every word it will take you ages, not years, centuries, to write a book.
Mainly because I know that even if you think three times before writing a sentence, the next day you reread and change half the text.
And you continue like this until both you and your computer self-destruct.
There will be days when you will be shocked at yourself because you have written such a beautiful text that even Shakespeare would bow down to.
You will be proud of it, proud of it, and you will not shut up for a day.
But, there will be days when you will suck. Direct but I won’t sugarcoat it.
There will be days when every word finds it’s way out of your head and looks ugly and misshapen on the page.
Horrible days that will make you believe that the ones before were just a beautiful dream.
The point is that to write a book, and even more so to start a career based on writing books, you have to write all the time. Not only in the first heavenly case but also in the second cases, which let’s face it happen more often.
Even if you think you wrote horribly the day before, you absolutely must not go back. You will only lose precious time. Do not even read what you wrote yesterday, just look at the last few sentences and continue writing the book.
Get to the end. Only then can you enjoy editing.
5. You make too much time pass from one writing session to the next
I never saw anyone talking about it in fact I had to figure it out for myself.
But really, the more days that pass from one writing session to the next the more I detach myself from the story and throw it into oblivion (or the little cerebral graveyard I mentioned earlier).
I have so many things to do during the day, a job and even this blog is not to be managed on a daily basis (it is what weighs least on me actually I love writing for you).
In short, life is full of commitments and things to do and often I too get distracted and forget important parts of my life. Like my dream of being a writer. I leave my story in a corner waiting for it to self-complete.
And I know this happens to other artists/writers too. I often see my friends abandon projects because they fail to put them as a priority every day.
And as much as I don’t like it either, writing a book is a daily commitment. If you read the daily routines
of famous writers, you will quickly realise that writing is as much a part of their lives as eating and sleeping.
Every day commit to writing, even if it is only one page, even if it is only one sentence at a time. Every day write your story. Go ahead.
I assure you that if you follow these tips (even this last one) you will write your own book. You will be successful and you will be proud of yourself. If you need it print this article and stick it in your study, but don’t forget these writing tips.
I want to see you all succeed and I want to read your stories. Do not disappoint me, but most importantly, do not disappoint yourselves.
Now you know the reasons why and you have a good dose of motivation, top it all off with this article full of tips on how to overcome blank page syndrome.
If this article has helped you at least a little, follow the page on Pinterest and subscribe to the newsletter, so you can have an annoying person nagging you until you complete your manuscript (this is obviously an offer you cannot refuse).
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