Speaker 1: Now that both NaNoWriMo and Finish Your Book Fall are here, it's the season where writers are turning to their works in progress and working to finish their manuscripts. While drafting a book can and should be an exciting and fun process, at some point you're likely going to encounter the dreaded writer's block if you haven't already. This happens when you hit a creative rut and can't seem to get any words down on the page. Perhaps you have no idea where to take your story from here and you just get so discouraged from writing at all. Writer's block can be incredibly stifling and in the worst case it can keep you from finishing your draft. So today I want to address my top tips for overcoming writer's block. These tips are designed to help boost your motivation, replenish your creative energy, and ultimately make you feel inspired to write again. If you're new to my channel and you are currently working on a book project, I recommend subscribing and joining this amazing community of writers. Every week I post videos either with tactical tips like this one today or I talk about the book publishing industry, especially from the perspective of traditional publishing, which is my professional background. I also have a free resource in the description below that can be really helpful for anyone who has a draft in progress. It is called my story self-assessment. It's a free worksheet I designed specifically for my YouTube community and it's going to ask you a series of questions that helps you pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses in your current work in progress. This can be really helpful especially when you're ready to work on the next draft of your book and you want to make sure that you are improving it in significant ways. I know how hard it can be to identify issues in your own work, so the worksheet is designed to do just that. If you go ahead and download it, it's also going to sign you up for my exclusive newsletter where I give tips and insights you won't find anywhere on my channel, so you don't want to miss out on that. Now let's talk about the first way to overcome writer's block, which is to remove pressure. You're likely writing a book because you feel super passionate about your story, but all too often that passion can become overshadowed by external pressures that you place on your writing and on your book project, and these pressures can ultimately be what leads to writer's block. So perhaps you set a deadline for yourself that you want to finish a certain number of words or you want to finish the draft in a specific time frame, and now that that deadline is fast approaching, you are now dreading it and it's keeping you from even wanting to sit down to write at all. Or perhaps you're a perfectionist and you're upset that this draft still feels messy and that it's not yet to the standard you want it to be, so you are now questioning why even bother at all. There is so much more work to do and this draft is just so far from being perfect. Now some people may perform well under these set of pressures, but many people crumble under pressure. Plus it just adds unnecessary stress to your life, and these kinds of attitudes take the joy out of writing. So unless you have a specific deadline because you are working with a publisher or a literary agent that has given you that deadline, try to release yourself from these arbitrary dates. Give yourself the space to let this book come to you at the pace that it does, while also committing to specific times to write, which I will talk about in my next tip. If you are in the position of having a deadline from a literary agent or publisher that you really need to adhere to, but you're really just not feeling able to meet it, I would encourage you to just be upfront with them and ask if there's any room to move the date by a little bit to give you some more time. In traditional publishing especially, deadlines get moved around. Even whole book launches get moved around very, very frequently because agents and publishers understand that this is a creative act and sometimes it just needs more time, especially if you are dealing with writer's block. They should understand that you are in a rut and they should want to give you the space to get out of it. So ultimately setting pressures on yourself to finish your story in a specific timeframe or to get it perfect is unrealistic and can ultimately hurt your motivation and morale. Writing is a free form type of process and it should be given the space to be imperfect and messy, especially in the first draft phase. If you find yourself setting these pressures and feeling unmotivated because of them, I recommend checking out my video on destructive writer habits. I talk a bit more about how to get yourself in the right headspace to be more productive with your writing. I want to close off this point by giving you some tangible tips on how to remove this type of pressure you're setting for yourself with your writing and hopefully overcome writer's block. One is to rename whatever draft document you're working in to be really clear that this is just meant to be a draft. You could call it work in progress, WIP or working draft or even something fun and creative like canvas. That will help your brain register that yes, it's okay if this is not perfect yet. It's okay if it is not organized in the way I want it to be because it's really meant to just be this blank canvas, this open space for you to be creative and experimental. Another idea would be to change the font or the spacing of your manuscript draft. Maybe you change it to your favorite font and then when you enter the document, it just feels more like a creative space for you. Small things like that can help you remove the pressure from yourself and realize that this is a place for you to be creative, be open, and be experimental. My next tip for overcoming writer's block is to create the space for your writing. One surefire way to perpetuate writer's block is to sit around and tell yourself that you're going to write whenever inspiration strikes you because as you probably know, that strike of inspiration is quite rare and the truth is that many successful writers are successful because they treat their writing as a discipline, which does not mean taking it so seriously, but just means that they create the space and the time to write and commit to it. So if you already have a writing routine of some kind in place, honor it. Even if you are feeling writer's block, don't let yourself use writer's block or lack of inspiration or lack of motivation as a reason not to sit down and write during that time that you have dedicated to it. Follow through with what you set out to do just like you would any other task. And remember that even if you only get 10 words down in that allotted time, that's better than none at all. After all, you still wrote. Now, if you do not have an established routine, I recommend creating one. For instance, tell yourself that instead of going out to grab lunch during your lunch break, you're going to bring your lunch and then use that one hour time frame to write. Again, whether you get 10 words down or a hundred, use that single hour to write something, anything, truly anything goes. Remember these words are not meant to be perfect at this time. That is ultimately what revision and future drafts are for. To motivate yourself even further, you can even create a specific ambiance that gives you inspiration and makes you feel encouraged to write. For instance, you could promise yourself you're going to make your favorite hot beverage during your writing time, or you could light a candle with your favorite scent. Again, these small things can actually spark that creative energy. My next tip for overcoming writer's block is to ask yourself questions about your story. Diving deeper into your novel's world and getting to know your characters can be a great way to both overcome writer's block and deepen your story at the same time. So try to do some writing exercises where you start to think about your story from different levels, especially if you are having trouble coming up with the next scene you want to write. These questions can actually help you come up with ideas for those scenes and also help you flesh out your characters and your story's themes. So here are some examples of some questions you can ask yourself about your story to start that critical thinking process and ignite some ideas about your story. Why can the story only be set in this location and period? What has happened in my character's past to make them who they are today? Now this one goes for all the characters in your story. What is one thing that the protagonist and the antagonist, if it is a person, actually agree on? What will the protagonist and the antagonist, if you have one, be doing in 10 years? What are three other works of art, visual art, films, poetry, music, that reflect my story's themes? What is the single idea I want readers to take away after finishing my story? You can just do this as a thought experiment or even try writing out the answers down on the page and the idea here is to get you thinking about your story from a whole other perspective. My next tip for overcoming writer's block is to connect with other writers. Sometimes the best way out of a creative rut is to just connect with other people who know exactly what you are going through because they have been there themselves. Remember, although the act of writing is often something you do alone, it does not have to be an isolated act. There are amazing support networks out there of writers working on all different types of projects and sharing their experiences and support. So where can you find other writers to connect with if you don't have someone immediately in your community already? Look into workshops and conferences in person and many are virtual as well. Now, if you are in a workshop type setting, especially that can also help you stay accountable because you will often be turning in pages for critique. So if you're someone who needs a deadline in order to produce some kind of draft, that can be really helpful. Now, most workshops and conferences are paid. So that is something to keep in mind. Also look into courses via maybe a local college. There are also many writing organizations that offer virtual courses. These could either be via Zoom or just self-paced. Again, these do typically require payment, but it is a big scale. So you can likely find something to suit your budget. If you are looking to connect with other writers, I would definitely make sure that there is a community aspect to the course you're interested in. Maybe it's even a group for people who have taken the course, or maybe you will be on Zoom with the other people taking the course during specific sessions. I would also check online communities, including Reddit, Twitter, Facebook groups, and even in the comments here, I've seen you all share your experiences and respond to each other via the comments and talk about your projects. And I love seeing that community being built. So please keep it coming. And please feel free to use this space as a support network as well. Even if you're not feeling writer's block at this particular moment, there are many other reasons why it benefits you to connect with other writers, whether that be finding someone who could ultimately serve as a beta reader or a critique partner down the line, or just someone who can help spread the word about your book when it's eventually published. I have a whole other video that goes into the differences between beta readers and working with a professional book editor. So check that out if you are in the phase of thinking about getting some feedback on your book. My final tip for overcoming writer's block is to read something new. I firmly believe that the best writers are also strong readers. And one of the best ways to learn more about writing and improve your own craft is to see how other storytellers approach their work and what methods they're using that are effective. This isn't about copying at all. It's just about learning techniques and strategies and what resonates with readers. While reading within your own genre is very important and valuable, especially if you are eventually planning to pitch literary agents for the purposes of writer's block specifically, I think reading in a wholly different genre can actually be very interesting and can light a different kind of creative spark because it helps you apply story techniques and tropes that maybe are more common in other genres. And you can see how they can actually apply to yours in very intriguing and unique ways. Even reading short stories and poetry can be valuable and inspirational and will also teach you about the craft of writing. If you find it's hard to sit down with the written word because you do that enough already when you're trying to write, I totally understand. I would encourage you to check out a different form of consuming other stories such as audiobooks. I find those to be really helpful especially as someone who sits down reading all day. And if you have trouble finishing a book or finding the time to read, consider joining a book club to help keep you accountable. And again that's another place to potentially find other writer friends. I hope these tips helped you feel excited again about writing and eager to turn back to your story. Anytime you face the dreaded writer's block, turn back to this video and hopefully you're able to get out of it and reignite the creative spark. Let me know in the comments what strategies you've used to overcome writer's block. It's a common issue that many writers face and everyone handles it and approaches it differently so I would love to hear your own experiences and what has worked for you. If you can see the end in sight on your current work in progress, I recommend checking out my other video on how to finish your book. I go over some tactical tips to help you get to that finish line. And as always if you found this video helpful, please hit that like button and subscribe if you haven't already. Also don't forget that free story self-assessment waiting for you in the description below. Thank you so much for watching and happy writing.