J.D. Cunegan

If I had a dollar for every time a writer has asked how to battle writer’s block, I’d have a lot more dollars than I have now.

Thing is, there’s no one real answer. Part of that is because we seemingly can’t agree on what writer’s block is. To some degree, we can’t even agree on whether or not writer’s block actually exists.

For some, writer’s block is a lack of ideas. Others, a lack of direction.

Others still, either a lack of motivation or the inability to proceed. Even when ideas and direction aren’t the issue.

What it is not, though, is laziness seeking justification. At least, not with any writer worth a damn.

For the record, I believe writer’s block exists–for no other reason than I’ve fallen victim to it myself. Multiple times. And there’s no one magic elixir for dealing with it, because there’s no one uniform cause.

So what does work? Well…

A Creative Quandary by Any Other Name
Depending on the cause, “writer’s block” might not always best describe what’s plaguing a writer. To me, the word “block” assumes there’s something there, but it can’t flow the way it should because of an obstruction. Think a clogged pipe or a street that’s momentarily impassable because of a traffic accident.

Picture: you know exactly what your book’s going to be about. You have an outline. You have solid foundations for all the major characters. You have the energy and the desire to get this story on the page.

Yet when you sit at your desk to begin typing (or handwriting)… nothing.

What gives?

When this happens to me, it’s usually some form of exhaustion. There’s physical and mental exhaustion, which most often occurs when I try to write after a long day either at work or tied up in something else not related to my writing. I’ll be brimming with the itch to write while knee-deep in my day job, but the second I get home and get settled… that itch is long gone.

Sometimes, though, it’s creative exhaustion. For me, creative exhaustion leads not just to a writing slump, but a reading slump as well. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand for me; the more I read, the more productive I am as a writer.

Quoting Stephen King from his book On Writing, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

Think of your creativity as a bank account. Every time you write something, you’ve made a creative withdrawal. Every time you read, you’re making a creative deposit. Too many withdrawals without corresponding deposits will lead to an overdrawn account (“writer’s block”).

The thing about these slumps is, you can’t force your way out of them. Not if you expect quality output. This isn’t the same as slogging through the workday when you’d rather stay in bed or spend the day binging whatever’s in syndication on Lifetime.

Creativity cannot be forced. Try, and all you end up doing is either frustrating yourself further with your lack of productivity, or churning out content that’s so below your baseline quality that you’re as likely to erase it as you are to refine it.

With that being said…

I Swear I’m Not Saying “Unpopular Opinion” to Goose the Algorithm
Here’s the “unpopular opinion” part of the essay: rest is okay.

No, check that. Rest is essential.

Writer’s block can sometimes actually be burnout. Because burnout is as much a reality for creators as it is for anyone else.

If anything, I think creatives are more susceptible to burnout by virtue of how sensitive we tend to be about the world around us. Being so in tune with so many things has its downsides, and the occasional physical, mental, and emotional overwhelm is part of that process.

Yet we feel so bad every time our minds–or our bodies–force us to step back and take a break. We’ve been inundated with the notion that productivity trumps everything else in life. How we feel be damned; there are things to create and money to make!

Remember how I mentioned the lack of quality when you force creativity in the last section of this essay? Yeah, that works here, too. The more you force it, the further you push it away. And the worse you make yourself feel.

Burnout is not something to push through, so you can boast about how you pushed through and turned out just fine. (Spoiler alert: you are not just fine.) Burnout is your body’s last-ditch attempt to get you to slow the [bleep] down already. Ignore burnout, and you run the risk of making your life worse in a lot of other ways.

The best thing to do is nip burnout in the bud before it can creep up on you. But that requires a level of self awareness and discipline a lot of us don’t have, because a lot of us don’t believe we’re allowed to have it.

To be unproductive is to be lazy. Or untalented.

If people see you not doing the thing, they’ll abandon you to find someone who will do the thing.

Your work demands you rest. Your loved ones demand you rest. Your life demands you rest.

If you’ve been slogging away at your first draft for the last two months, and suddenly, you need to step away for a week or two? Go ahead and do it! The manuscript will still be there when you get back.

Push yourself too hard, and you might not be able to say the same about yourself.

Ode to the Spinning Plates
If you’ve watched any sports in your life, chances are you’re familiar with the genre of halftime entertainment where a woman will ride a unicycle while balancing several sticks on her hands and other body parts. On those sticks are stacks of ceramic plates, all spinning.

The spectacle is in being convinced all those plates are going to come crashing down and shatter while she rides the unicycle.

But they never do. She maintains that ever-elusive balance.

Sometimes, that’s what being a creative feels like. Especially if you’re like me and you have multiple projects going on simultaneously. Some will tell you that’s a bad thing, that you lose focus if you’re not honed in one one project at a time.

I believe the opposite. Having more than one project to work on, especially if those projects are in different stages of development, can help keep you energized and focused. Because if you reach a point where you’re not feeling Project A, you have Project B (or even Project C) to work on in the interim.

The key is keeping your creative momentum, and boredom is the enemy of momentum (and writer’s block is borne from that loss of momentum). If hopping from one project to the next is what keeps the plates spinning, then so be it.

When I was at my most productive, I would always have one draft in the editing phase and another in the writing phase. Edit one book, write the other, deciding which project I tackle that day based on… well, vibes, I guess.

If nothing speaks to me that day, then I don’t work on anything that day.

Because what did I say about rest?

In Conclusion
In fitness circles, experts argue listening to your body is essential. For creatives, a holistic listening approach is best. Because if you’re so busy ignoring your own feelings–physical, mental, or otherwise–to push through, that’s when creative exhaustion kicks in, momentum falters, and you’re staring down the barrel of writer’s block.

Missing your daily word count because you step away is far better than forcing it, hating what you created, then not writing for the next two weeks. Your creation will still be there when you’re ready; the most important thing is, and will always be, you.

The best way to fight writer’s block is to prevent it. That requires being honest with yourself. That requires knowing the signs of struggle before they take hold.

About J.D. Cunegan
J.D. Cunegan is known for his unique writing style, a mixture of murder mystery and superhero epic that introduces the reader to his comic book-inspired storytelling and fast-paced prose. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Cunegan has an extensive background in journalism, a lengthy career in media relations, and a lifelong love for writing. Cunegan lives in Hampton, Virginia, and next to books and art, his big passion in life in auto racing. When not hunched in front of a keyboard or with his nose stuck in a book, Cunegan can probably be found at a race track or watching a race on TV.

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