Does writer’s block actually exist?
It might be an overused phrase, but there are certainly ways we can increase our flow of words and ideas. Here is a guest column showing how some of the best writer's unblock themselves.
I am posting a series of guest columns during January while I'm away on holiday. To join the community and receive access to all paywalled posts, make sure you sign up for just £1.75 a week. I have written an introduction below, followed by the guest column by a writer I love. From February onwards, I'll be resuming our Tuesday Thread discussions, Sunday Scrolls and lots more new writing from me.
Even though I don’t fixate on “routines”, I am very interested in the little things we do to keep ourselves writing and making. Those little tips, whispers of advice, small trinkets in the office, a soft blanket across your lap, a soy-burning candle on a desk, even having freshly manicured nails… anything to help the act of writing, which can often be long, hard, boring and lonely. Sometimes, you hear a little tidbit and it strikes you at just the right time. I love any writing tip offered up.
One of my favourite things to do when stuck, personally: pick a book off your shelf and read a page. You will no doubt be inspired by something – a piece of dialogue, a funny phrase, a chapter title – and you will go back to your own manuscript with a slight lift.
Other things that help me: Oliver Burkeman’s ‘3-4 hour rule’. Tallying up my word-count every day on a little yellow post-it (whether it was 300 words or 3 words) helped me draft my second novel. Buying a second-hand typewriter just for fun lifted my spirits. Hearing Jessie Burton once say she wrote The Miniaturist “in offices, on the train and in theatre dressing rooms” allowed me to stop being a perfectionist glued to a Word doc at a specific desk. I find the stuff we do around writing endlessly fascinating.
So when the brilliant Alice Vincent got in touch pitching an article showcasing the many different ways top authors overcome the dreaded “writer’s block”, I had to say yes. Alice is a fellow Substacker, check out her newsletter Savour, and author of three bestselling books: How to Grow Stuff, Rootbound and Why Women Grow which was recently shortlisted for multiple awards including the iconic Wainwright Prize and Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. Excitingly, Alice has just launched a new Substack and podcast too called In Haste which she describes below. Hope you enjoy the treasure trove of writing advice below.
How Oliver Burkeman (and others) get over writer’s block
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