There are several types of Writer’s Block. I’ve gone through all of them in the past year! Some last for a few hours that feel agonizing, while others last months or even years *shivers*. I’m going to discuss the ones I know about and how I got past them, or didn’t!

Number 1: No ideas

This can strike before or after you have started writing. For me it lasted nearly ten years. For ten years I waited for an idea to come so I could start writing again! Since then, this type of block has only occurred with small scenes, and is usually alleviated after a shower or drive to clear my mind and let inspiration strike! I’ve since learned that the best solution is just to keep writing something. A journal, a blog, other scenes, editing, ANYTHING! If you love writing, keep going and it will come when it comes. Can’t force it.

Number 2: Too many ideas

I had this problem last spring. There was a whole new idea every other day. Some were basic plot points for the book I was writing; ways to change a scene, or a better way of explaining by showing instead of telling. But mostly, they were new plots. They came in dreams, at work, in the grocery store! So what did I do? I wrote faster on my WIP to get to the others! It suffered for my haste. The other ideas could wait, because I voice recorded them and typed them up. I had to stop thinking about what I would write next and focus on what I was already writing. I also didn’t ignore plot points for the other works. I got them down and went back to the WIP at hand. I found it was possible to have too many projects going at once, I just couldn’t stress over all of them at the same time. Setting goals became my greatest ally.

Number 3: No Time

I’ve posted about being a mom and teacher, and how that cuts into writing time before, but I’ve found that making time isn’t good enough. I gave myself 4 hours twice a week, but after I finished my last book, I suddenly stopped finding the time to work on it. My husband is now working 12 hour days, and I hated taking time from him to write. But that’s not really the problem. I stopped making writing my priority with my “free” time. I’m still struggling with the balance between work and home. I need to start giving myself permission to take a few hours a week, even though I used to do a couple of hours a day. I have to start somewhere!

Number 4: Burn Out

This is my biggest problem currently. From February 15 to April 15 I wrote and edited 58K words of my first book and learned how to query, then from April 15 to June 10 I wrote 68K words on my second book and 6 other plots. That’s approximately 130K words written and edited in five months. Not as quick as a prolific writer like Jennifer Armentrout who puts out 5-10 books a year, but impressive for me, a working mother. I hit a wall. I even stopped reading. This may be due to a sort of postpartum depression in finishing writing, or possibly a need to get back to focusing on my day job, but I realized this past week that I was burnt out. My only remedy has been giving it time.

Number 5: Fear 

Fear of what you ask? Failure, success, praise, my writing sucking and embarrassing my whole family, my writing getting popular enough for critics to bash me. Maybe I over think everything, but fear caught me a couple of times, and I’m currently in its grasp. It may seem odd to fear both success and failure at the same time, but I’m a realist. Lucky me! Between family constantly asking when they can buy my book (because they have no clue how long it takes to get published, if ever), and rejection letters from months ago coming in at random, I’ve become fearful. Fearful of what is to come and having little to no control over it. I don’t know how to get past this except to keep doing what I love, writing. I don’t know when I will get the courage, time, and energy to do so again, but I know I will.

How do you deal with writer’s block? Give up? Stop writing for a while? Force yourself to write something? Eat a lot of chocolate? Please share what you have experienced or any resources in the comments!