How to Deal with Writer’s Block and the Pain of Creativity

Sometimes, writing is hard. Painful even. You’re halfway through revising your story when it hits. You can’t go forward. You can’t write another word. Everything you’ve written is worthless. You should probably delete it all and start over, but then how will you ever finish.

How do you deal with the Pain of Creativity?

If you’ve never experienced the Pain, there’s something wrong. There must be an amount of pain in your creative work. Otherwise you’re avoiding something or not trying hard enough.

It wouldn’t be fair if writers didn’t have to experience some toil in their creations. Brick layers feel pain when they build houses. Mothers feel pain when they go into childbirth. Why shouldn’t we be required to shed emotional sweat and blood when we are bringing our stories to life.

At some point, during every project, I say, “This is impossible. I’m never going to finish.” However, since I’ve already made it impossible not to finish (and this part is very important, this making it impossible not to finish part), I can’t go on. I must simple sit in the extreme emotional discomfort of both the impossible to finish and impossible to abandon.

The remarkable thing is that this after this pain always comes a breakthrough. When I wrote my first book, one day, in the middle of a difficult revision, I sat on the floor, slumped my head into my hands, and had a tearless cry. I hated the book. I hated writing. I wanted to quit being a writer altogether and get some other job. I never wanted to feel that stupid again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quit. I had already been paid for the project and I needed the money. So I wallowed and then wrote a bit more and then quit for the day. Then, to my great surprise, three weeks later the book was finished and I was an author.

Another time I was writing a short story. I had written a gnarled mess of a first draft and was coming into issues shaping it into a finished piece when I found I couldn’t continue and those old fears came up again. “I’ll never be a writer. I can’t even finish a short story. I’m a failure. I should just give up and go sell bonds like Nick Carraway.” I couldn’t quit, though. I needed the story for an application to grad school. And so I kept writing. A few days later the story was finished and it was some of the best work I’ve ever written.

When I was creating this course, this pain came again. “I’ll never finish in time. I’m going to be a failure.” And then I remembered all of those other times I had gone through this same pain, and I felt better. I still allowed myself to feel the anguish of creation, I knew I had to allow myself to feel it in order to move forward. But I did not allow my self-doubt to convince me this course would never be completed. Instead, I sat back down and got to work, the pain flaring up here and there as I went.

Three Steps to Defeating The Pain

How should you deal with The Pain? Here are the three things I do.

1. Don’t avoid it

The pain is a good thing. It helps you be more creative. It is a sign you’re trying. The truth is that if you want to create great art, you will have to work through the pain.

So don’t scroll through Facebook. Don’t check your email. Don’t avoid the pain.

Instead, scrunch your face into a sad face, close your eyes, let it roll over you, and then get back to work.

2. Don’t listen to the talk

The pain and the doubts often come together. While it’s okay to embrace one, you must battle with the other. Those lies that say you’re a failure, that you’ll never be a real writer, that you’re never going to finish this story, that you’ll always be a flake, yeah those are all untrue. Stop listening to them. Seriously, stop it.

Instead, give yourself a pep talk and say five things that are true about you:

1. You are a writer.
2. You are going to finish this story.
3. You’re not a failure.
4. You’re not a flake.
5. You’re story is going to be great.

3. Get to work

I give you permission to wallow a little. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sitting in your emotions and experiencing them fully. Emotions can be fun, even painful ones. But then, you need to get up and do your work.

Remember, the breakthrough is coming. Soon, you’ll be finished with this project and ready to share it with the world. Don’t give up now.

PRACTICE

Go to the Google + Group and create a video of you giving yourself a pep talk and saying at least five things that are true. Then post it there to encourage the rest of us.

And next time, when you’re felling the pain over one of your stories, go watch that video again and remember that while it’s okay to experience the pain of creativity, it’s not okay to quit.