For five years, from 2016 to
2020, I experienced what I call a "Winter": a period of
sustained writer's block, topped off, in 2020, by emotional burnout, as so
many people on this planet have been experiencing. In 2021, at last, I managed to slither out of the dank, miserable hole of
I-Can't-Write. Recovery is slow, and ongoing, but it is happening, and I am delighted.
I
had drafted a lengthy blog post offering some advice on how to recover
from a block/burnout, and what that process is like; and then my
computer crashed, and I lost the whole thing. (Incidentally, have you
backed up your writing today? If you haven't, do it now. If you have, do it again.)
So I shall write it again, because I feel that many of my fellow writers could benefit from such a blog post, if only for future reference.
And I have a nasty little suspicion that I may need it again myself, someday.
Step 1: Stop panicking, and stop trying.
Creativity comes in surges and seasons; this is a well-known fact among people who have been engaged in creative practices, such as writing, for a long time. It would be wonderful to be always aflame with creativity, always inspired, churning out work as fast as we can ... but that is not how the world works. Spring does not last all year, and your psyche cannot work at peak productivity all the time.
If you are grieving, stressed, processing some trauma or other, dealing with any mental illness or disability, or just coping with some significant change in your life, that will be hogging your mind's energy, and perhaps burning all your soul's reserves. It is normal.
So stop trying to write. Your brain is telling you that it cannot. You want to write, don't you? If you could, you would; the fact that you aren't means you can't.
You will write again. It's okay. It is likely that the more you panic, the longer it will take you to be able to write again. You are still a writer; a cup is still a cup whether it be empty or full, and a pen is still a pen when it has run out of ink. Plenty of writers throughout history have stopped writing for years, or even a decade or two, before resuming.
Step 2: Rest.
Your soul lives in your body, and what happens to your body affects your soul. You need a rest, both physically and mentally. It is time for some serious self care, my friend.
How's that sleep schedule? When did you last lie on the couch and do nothing? Do you need a nap? Sleep is one of the most powerful, most underrated, most ignored needs of the body and soul. There is plenty of research to support this.
Have you been eating a lot of junk food recently? How much water are you drinking? Your brain is an organ just like your gut is, and it can't do good work if it is being mistreated.
Are you bathing often enough? Getting some form of healthy, non-punishing exercise? Is there some medical issue you have been ignoring? Physical discomfort and neglect will not help you to write again.
Maybe you are too busy to do these things. If you are too busy to do them, you are too busy to write. If you are too busy to rest your sprained ankle, you are too busy to go for runs, and if you are too busy to rest your burnt-out brain, you are too busy to be forcing said brain to produce words.
Step 3: Consume.
Read books, watch movies, play video games. Maybe read something you haven't tried before: manga, webcomics, fanfiction, plays, classic literature, poetry, myths from a culture with which you are not familiar. Try a movie or a television series in a foreign language, or that was made decades before you were born, or that is far out of your usual genres; you can always come back to what you love if you don't care for it. Binge something, and remember how great it feels to get lost in a story. Forget about analysing themes or tracking character arcs: turn your writer-brain off for a while and and just absorb stories, the way you did before you began writing them yourself.
Your creativity tank is empty and your soul is exhausted. Let them rest and refuel.
Step 4: Do something else.
Are you yearning to do something creative but the words just won't come? Create something else: knit, cook, sculpt, paint, plant. Dabble in a new hobby or revisit an old one, or focus on one that you already do that isn't writing. Paint can be a great way of producing something quickly, with immediate visual results. Needle-felting is a nice way of handling soothing materials (wool) while making cathartic stabbing motions (but at some point you will stab yourself, so be prepared for a little bit of pain). Lots of fibre crafts involve soothing, repetitive movements.
Spray-paint something you already own. Shift some furniture around. Pick a home improvement project and work on it until it is complete. Experiment with all the settings on your camera. Try making those recipes you bookmarked ages ago. Fill the biggest piece of paper you have with doodles of dragons or dogs or daisies. Do anything that is not writing.
You can even pair this with some self care as mentioned in Step 2: go for some long walks or hikes, get a really nice haircut, dye your hair, try a different style, get a massage or manicure, go to a sauna or a meditation retreat or take yoga or boxing classes for a month. Experiment with fashion or makeup.
Two things:
1. Make sure your project is something you can complete, or that doesn't need to be completed. This is not about making more work for yourself or adding frustration to the pile of frustrations you already feel.
2. I strongly recommend that whatever you choose be something that gets you out of your head and has nothing to do with words.
Step 5: Ease yourself back into writing, very slowly.
After doing all of the above, or at any time during the process, you may be champing at the bit to write, but when you try the words still will not come. That's extremely frustrating, but normal. Let yourself feel frustrated, but do not dwell in the feeling: the more you dwell on it, the more your brain will associate writing with frustration, and you may end up setting up a feedback loop wherein your brain focuses more on the frustration of not writing than it does on actually writing.
So, one day, when you are feeling less burned out and more alive, take a peek at a manuscript you are writing. If you feel a wave of frustration, reluctance, grief, nausea, or any other unpleasant feeling, close the manuscript immediately and do something else. This is to prevent your brain from associating writing with unpleasant emotions.
A few days or weeks later, whenever you feel ready, take another peek at the manuscript. If nothing comes to mind within five minutes, close it and do something else. Don't force it: if your brain isn't ready to write, it will not write. Revisit the previous steps.
Eventually, you may find yourself scrawling a few words. What a thrill! Your Winter is over!
No, it's not. This is the equivalent of being able to take a few steps, unassisted, on your healing ankle: you are not ready to go for a run, nor even a little stroll down the road; in fact, you probably shouldn't go further than the other end of your house. Did you produce one little sentence? Excellent! That's enough for today. Don't let yourself sit there and cudgel your poor tired brain in the hopes of wringing more out of it. All that will do is make you hate yourself and your brain and your writing.
At this point, you are not "trying to write": you are offering your brain the opportunity to give you some words if it feels that it would like to do so, in a no-pressure environment. Do not order your brain to write: invite it, casually, to jot down a few words if it feels so inclined.
Remember, you have been suffering from burnout. Your brain has been scared and sad and exhausted and frustrated. Do not make demands of it: talk to it kindly.
In summary: do not try to push through the block. This is like trying to sprint on a sprained ankle. If you could write, you would be writing. You can't. Your brain is tired. It needs to rest. This happens to all of us. Admit that you are not superhuman, accept that you are burnt out and tired and sad, make your peace with it, and take a nap.
These two articles contain more advice, and some suggestions for easing yourself back into writing; however, I cannot emphasise enough that you must rest and refuel first.
Why It’s Okay Not To Write (& Simple Steps To Start Writing Again)
Writing Decongestant: 10 Ways To Unblock Your Writer's Block (Contains coarse language.)
You may also like to look at my 'writer's block' tag on Tumblr. In particular, this post (warning for coarse language) by user elidyce discusses four different types of writer's block and the solution to each. You will note that this blog post refers to the fourth type: The Blocked Writer.
If you are experiencing a Winter, be encouraged: you are not the only one to have felt what you are feeling, and it will not last forever. You will write again. And you can hasten that day by not writing now.
