A while back, I went to a reading of Neil Gaimen’s newest book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It was my first reading of an author. Got my copy of American Gods signed (hurrah!) and got to hear him answer questions from the audience.
One of the questions concerned writer’s block. How does he work passed it?
First he talked about his time as a journalist. He spoke of having deadlines. He was not allowed to have writer’s block. I went through the same thing when I was a ghost writer on a tea blog. In the end you had to just write through it.
Gaimen also talked about that there were days that he had to force himself to write and every word that came from his fingertips felt like shit while on his good days the words felt like gold. And yet when he went back and read everything it was really all the same.
If you find yourself stuck, just keep writing. Stephen King called it “shoveling shit.” It certainly is but it will be the only way to get through. The more you write the easier it will become. You may have to find another outlet in the meantime if you really just can’t write your particular project. I always keep a journal and I currently have this blog as well as my traveling one for my impending move to Germany (yay news!). But even if I am not writing Book of Tas’und’eash then I am still writing something else. Each time the words flow more easily and thus I will keep writing.
What do you do when you find yourself with writer’s block?
Tas'und'eash 