That’s great for them, but this method doesn’t work for me. I also know plenty have succeeded using that strategy. I know a lot of writers swear by NaNoWriMo (the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month). Now, I understand it’s impossible to be happy all the time, and some people suffer from things which make happiness even harder, but it’s important to take care of yourself and I really do believe it helps overcome issues like writer’s block. If I’m happy, eating well, and doing things I love, then my writing improves. If I don’t feel good, either physically or mentally, my writing suffers.

In fact, I think self-care is an important ingredient in the creative process. I’m happy to report you don’t need to do any of these things to be a writer. When I was a girl I thought writers sat alone in dark rooms, smoked pipes, and sank slowly into depression and/or madness.

Sometimes just looking at a finished bit of writing will help remind me how the English language works. Plus, words are hard sticky things that never seem to go together right. I find if I read someone else’s story and fall in love with their world and their characters I can reawaken my excitement for my story. In these times I stop trying to create and instead consume. In the most basic terms, without anything going in it becomes hard to push something out. Why? Because sometimes writer’s block isn’t a ‘blockage’ at all but simply a lack of creative energy.

Whenever I’m struggling to write the first thing I do is read. It is frustrating, it is depressing, and it makes you feel like you’re a failure.īut, don’t worry, writer’s block can be overcome, and here are four strategies I use to do just that. On a scale from one to ten with one being ‘lost my keys’ and ten being ‘got crushed by a falling piano’, I would rank writer’s block a solid seven. AKA, the state in which the afflicted writer wants to write but just… can’t. In the past when asked about my work I would often just shrug my shoulders, mutter something about hobbies, and change the subject.īut, I am a writer, and like almost every writer I’ve ever met, I’ve suffered from writer’s block. Heck, it’s taken me a long time to feel confident enough to even call myself a writer. Hi, I’m Barbara Bell, romance author extraordinaire, and welcome to the blog tour for my debut novella Cutie Pies! Over the next week I will be travelling the internet sharing some thoughts on my book.

Cutie Pies by Barbara Bell