Photo credit: sheeerin
You hear it all the time. “Oh, I wish I could write something, but I keep getting writer’s block.” It’s probably the most used excuse in writing, and for a lot of people it feels like something that keeps us from fulfilling our dreams of one day writing that best-selling novel.
I’ve been writing for many different forms of media for a while now. Plays, sketches, content marketing, blog posts, requirements write-ups, and even a novel. The one thing that they all had in common was that at one point or another, I simply didn’t know what to write. Has this happened to you? If you consider yourself at least a little bit of a writer, I’m sure it has. (Still have the outline or first chapter of that novel sitting around in a folder on your computer? Writer’s block killed it, huh?)
I’d just like to say for the record, that writer’s block is bullshit. There’s no such thing as writer’s block. Instead, what people suffer from is a lack of confidence in their ideas. Or that they only get one chance to write their brilliant idea, and if it’s not right the first time, it’s a waste of that once-in-a-lifetime idea. It’s not.
I pushed through a novel this year. 60,000 words would have never made that page if I hadn’t remembered something I was taught in Intro to Comedy Writing at Second City – just write.
Your first draft of something will always be crap. And if you spend your “writing” time sitting around and trying to formulate the perfect way to create a scene in your head, you’re doomed to fail. “Writing” is just that. Putting words on paper or on a screen. Nothing stops you from doing that.
The next time you feel writer’s block, just keep writing. Yes, it will most likely be a bunch of crap that gets put down on paper, but at least you’ll be moving forward. Once you move past that barrier, you can come back to what you wrote and fine-tune it. That’s the beauty in writing, you can always make it better later!
Push through those self doubts and fears that you’re not writing your best. You’ll get a second chance at it…and a third…and a forth…
Comments Closed