by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
A recent chat with an author friend went something like this:
“What? You don’t think writer’s block is real? What is it then, Jim? A myth?”
“No, not a myth, an excuse.”
“But I’ve had it. I’m not making up an excuse when the words won’t come.”
I smiled and said, “I think you are making up an excuse. I think claiming writer’s block is a way for you to escape the work without feeling guilty about not writing.”
The conversation went on for a while, but that was the heart of it.
Maybe I feel that way about writer’s block because I’ve never had it. But I think there’s a reason I’ve never had it.
Since 1994 I’ve made a fair portion of my income writing radio and TV commercials, back cover copy, and content for websites. All those projects had and have dates by which they must be completed. It’s simply not an option to have writer’s block. The work has to get done.
“Writer’s block is a luxury most people with deadlines don’t have.” Author Diane Ackerman
Exactly.
With our novels, we have more wiggle room. Even if we have a deadline in the form of a contract from a publisher, we can put off writing for a day or two and make it up the next day. Even more wiggle room if you’re an indie author. So when we don’t feel like writing, claiming writer’s block gives us a justification to avoid our keyboard.
I’m all for taking breaks, getting outside, feeling a breeze on your cheeks, walking through the grass barefoot for an hour or even a day, but let’s do away with the excuse, “I can’t write right now because I’m just blocked.”
Tom’s Words of Wisdom
“My prescription for writer’s block is to face the fact that there is no such thing. It’s an invented condition, a literary version of the ‘abuse excuse.’ Writing well is difficult, but one can always write something. And then, with a lot of work, make it better. It’s a question of having enough will and ambition, not of hoping to evade this mysterious hysteria people are always talking about.” Thomas Mallon
A few of you are thinking Diane, Tom, and I just don’t get it. That you’ve had writer’s block and it wasn’t an excuse. You sat there and nothing came—not for a few hours or a few days, but for weeks—and you have no idea why the condition came and why it left.
That’s valid.
So next month I’ll tell you what I think happened to you, and how you can deal with the affliction next time it rears its ugly head.
What if You Woke up One Morning and the Darkest Parts of Yourself Were Gone?
Toren Daniels vanished eight months back, and his wife and kids have moved on—with more than a little relief. Toren was a good man but carried a raging temper that often exploded without warning. So when he shows up on their doorstep out of the blue, they’re shocked to see him alive. But more shocked to see he’s changed. Radically.
His anger is gone. He’s oddly patient. Kind. Fun. The man he always wanted to be. Toren has no clue where he’s been but knows he’s been utterly transformed. He focuses on three things: Finding out where he’s been. Finding out how it happened. And winning back his family.
But then shards of his old self start to rise from deep inside—like the man kicked out of the NFL for his fury—and Toren must face the supreme battle of his life.
In this fresh take on the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, James L. Rubart explores the war between the good and evil within each of us—and one man’s only chance to overcome the greatest divide of the soul.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish his stories. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY and RT Book Reviews award winning author of nine novels, a speaker, branding expert, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington. More at jamesLrubart.com