32 | The Writer • March 2020
As a writer, a life coach, and a therapist, I’ve
given a lot of thought to the things that keep me –
and many of my writer friends – stuck in our
work, unable to move forward or think creatively
about what needs to come next in our projects.
What follows are some straightforward, creative,
and compassionate ways to think about what’s
keeping you stuck – and to get you going again.1
PROBLEM: You have ‘too few’ ideas.
You don’t know what your next project is,
or your next chapter, or your character’s
next move. You are stewing in a pot of “I don’t
know,” going in circles trying to figure out what
to do and how to do it. You feel like you’ll never
have another good idea as long as you live.WHAT TO DO: Indecision is fear in disguise.
This is true not just in writing. Sometimes what
feels like poverty of thought is actually FOMO
(fear of missing out). You don’t want to work on
just anything, after all – you want to work on
something deeply meaningful and profoundly
resonant. If you can’t figure out what that is, you
think: Why begin at all? And so, you remain shut
down, seemingly at a loss for ideas.
+ Accept that you can’t force profundity. In its
(temporary) absence, reclaim your sense of
play. At the top of a piece of paper, write “10
Terrible Ideas” (for my story, for my character,
for my essay, etc.), and see what comes up.
Then write “10 Even Worse Ideas” and see
where that goes. Write fast without editing.
Marvel at how you just came up with 20 ideas.
Do any of them hold a kernel of promise? Do
this several times and see where it takes you.
+ Promise to give yourself time to worry at the
end of your writing day. When it’s time, list
everything you can think of that is worrying
you. Often when we name our fears, it helps to
tame them.
+ Many people find that by writing in genres they
wouldn’t ordinarily write in, it frees them up to
think about and see their work differently. Do a
short experiment and see where it takes you.
+ Begin anywhere. Success builds on itself. Even
if you don’t ultimately stay with what you’ve
started, starting creates momentum.2
PROBLEM: You have too many ideas.
You have so many ideas for your writing,
you don’t know where to begin...so youIn thinking about these two questions, I realized I could
answer one with the other: I knew I was a writer when I
found myself sitting at my desk day after day with my fore-
head in my hands, staring at my lap and thinking about how I
couldn’t write. My biggest time waster? My own brain, which
distracts me from my writing with all sorts of negative mes-
sages, impulsive meanderings, and good old-fashioned fear.
In his speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College in
2005, the late David Foster Wallace said, “‘Learning how to
think’ really means learning how to exercise some control
over how and what you think. It means being conscious and
aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to
choose how you construct meaning from experience.
Because if you cannot or will not exercise this kind of choice
in adult life, you will be totally hosed.”
In other words, we are the architects of our own thoughts,
and the sooner we come to realize this, the sooner and more
effectively we can exercise control over how we use them.
Are we going to be a slave to their capricious wanderings and
pessimistic prattle, letting them lead us willy-nilly all over
the landscape of our not-writing? Or will we take the helm
and, by exercising the right balance of freedom and control,
allow our writing the space to flourish?
Recently, my local writers guild asked to
feature me in their monthly newsletter.
A glutton for exposure, I said yes. I then
received a list of 10 questions, two of
which stood out. One was “When did
you first consider yourself to be a
writer?” The other was “What is your
biggest time waster?”
Previous^spread:^ lynea/Shutterstock^ (portrait),^ tsaplia/Shutterstock^ (pencils)