#OpenBook – How do you move past writer’s block?

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This week’s topic is easy for me. I have never had writers block. I don’t think I have been writing long enough for it to have struck yet.

I started writing in January 2015 and published my first Sir Chocolate book, Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream berries story and cookbook in August 2016. Since then I have written the following books and WIPS:

  • Five further books in the Sir Chocolate series for young children, aged between 3 and 7 years old, with three more written and more or less final;
  • One book for middle school children called Silly Willy goes to Cape Town, with another book in this series, Silly Willy goes to London three thirds finished;
  • One historical novella for older teens about my mom’s life growing up in WWII in a small English town in Suffolk, England. Book 2 in this series, After the Bombs Fell, is started and I have the first few chapters complete;
  • One published historical supernatural novel that will be available on Amazon this month called Through the Nethergate;
  • One novella about the Second Anglo Boer War that is also historical supernatural in its content. That went to my editor yesterday;
  • Half of the first book in a trilogy about a world dealing with severe climate crisis and the unemployment caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution;
  • Short stories in two published anthologies, Dark Visions (2 stories), edited by Dan Alatorre, and Death Among Us (3 stories), edited by Stephen Bentley; and
  • Short stories in two anthologies that will be published this month, Nightmareland (sequel to Dark Visions) (3 stories), edited by Dan Alatorre, and Whispers of the past, a Wordcrafter paranormal anthology (2 stories), edited by Kaye Lynne Booth.

I have ideas for a bunch of new short stories which come to me when I participate in various writing prompts. I have the outline of these stories in my head but need the time to write them down properly.

If and when I ever get writer’s block, I will stop writing and more on to a new obsession. Most of my readers know that I am a creature of obsessions and have had a number in my life from teaching spinning and cycling to running a Sunday School and baking. One day if writing has run its course in my life, I shall simply let it go. That may never happen, of course, writing isn’t something you easily get tired of, it is to versatile and I have always been passionate about reading.

How do other blog-hoppers cope with writer’s block?  Click on the blue button below to find out, or add your own blog or just a comment.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

The picture of the willow tree above was taken in York. I used this picture for this visual promotion for my short story, The Willow Tree, in Dark Visions
Dark visions promotion 1

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

56 thoughts on “#OpenBook – How do you move past writer’s block?”

  1. I haven’t had writer’s block, as such, but I do get caught in the sagging middle dilemma. I’ve learned that if I start another book in a different genre I can overcome the brain fart I’m having in the first book, lol. I generally have 3-4 WIP going at any given time now. It works for me. 🙂
    Great list, Robbie. You’ve garnered quite the collection in a short period of time!

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        2. Notebook or file for each book — or series in my case. I do have one or two characters who fancy themselves living in a multiverse, but fortunately, they have always been minor characters — though one started out as a major character in a short story back in high school. He’s a doctor and he has popped up in several stories over the years. He’s even asserted himself into my fantasy series, though he hasn’t made it to publication yet.

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      2. Working on a few documents at a time seem quite a common solution to this particular problem. I think people who are writing very academic books can get stuck because they get frustrated with the difficulty of conveying their intense meanings.

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        1. Academic writing is hard. I have been editor for a few people’s dissertations and you can see where they get stuck or where they talk around the point because they can’t find the right words. That’s where I earn my money, but taking their two paragraphs of dense gobbledegook and condensing it down to two sentences of perfect narrative. The jaws drop every time!

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    1. Taking a bit of time out to think and discover is not the same as writer’s block. To me, writer’s block is negative and occurs when you are frustrated with your story. That hasn’t happened to me yet and I can’t see you ever getting tired of your writing.

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  5. I think that, as long as you want to write, the ideas will come. I never thought I’d write one book and now I’m contemplating my fifteenth. And that’s a shock, as I never wrote more than a postcard when I travelled the world and had so much I could have said.

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  6. I wrote two novels years ago but got caught up in writing for television so I moved past that…am getting back into it now in different ways, and since I post every day on my blog, I have that as an outlet as well…

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  7. I hope to some day publish a book of fiction and I have a lot of ideas, just little time. That sounds like an excuse, but I have in my mind that I will begin writing in earnest when I’m an empty-nester. Until then, one of my obsessions is my blog – you may already know that 😉 – and I sometimes run short of ideas. I find that if I’m patient I eventually come up with something to say, rather than forcing a post. I should start a journal and write my ideas down as they come! Great post, Robbie.

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  8. When I hear writer’s block, I think of a writer who’s dealing with other issues in his/her life that doesn’t allow him/her to focus on writing. Sometimes it could be that the writer has not gotten enough sleep or is hungry or dehydrated. Writer’s block, in my opinion, is not a thing, it’s merely the fact that a writer cannot focus on writing because he or she has other things on his/her mind.
    The other day I had my mother on my mind because she was about to go into surgery, and I couldn’t focus on writing, so I didn’t try. As soon as my mother got out of surgery, and everything went okay, I was able to sit and write with no problem. I think with writer’s block, it’s a matter of figuring out what is taking your focus away and getting that straightened out. If you’re thirsty and dehydrated and you sit down to write the words are not going to flow. If your eyelids are heavy because you didn’t get sufficient sleep the night before and you sit down to write the words aren’t going to flow. If you have a problem hanging over your head and you can’t stop thinking about it, and you sit in front of the computer, words are not going to flow. Maybe you’re burnt out, get up and take a walk, do some breathing movements, or go to the gym and then sit down and write. That’s my opinion and it’s worth as much as you paid for it. 😉 xo

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  10. Interesting post. I think just stepping away and regrouping. Or else move on to something else. Take time in nature is my inspiration.

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  11. I don’t get writers block when it comes to thinking up stories – I’m overflowing with them! I do get writers procrastination or writers avoidance on the WIP I’m currently writing though. Months will go past and I just CAN’T write. In those times I just have to get away from writing and focus on eating or research, and not beat myself up about not being able to write. If there’s a better way out there to get over this particular form of writers block, I’d love to hear it!!

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  13. My problem isn’t writer’s block, it’s running out of things to say. The feeling is that of a well running dry, and then I have to let the well fill up again before I can draw upon it and continue writing. Being in the mix of life exposes me to new experiences and helps the well fill up faster, reading quality literature also helps, as can free associative writing.

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  14. A fabulous creative list, Roberta, all power to your writing elbow. My creative energy feels linked to my emotional energy, so if that’s depleted then I step back from writing for a few hours, or days and then it re-balances. Hugs for you. Xx

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  15. Like you, writers block luckily has not hit and hopefully never will. Having shared in the inside of Dark Visions alongside you, I have read many of your dark tales. People reading the new book ‘Nightmareland’ will not be disappointed. A sneak peak at your story and two others has me excited and proud to be between the front and back cover myself. Good luck to you and all who reside between the cover alongside us, And long may we be immune to the disease writers block.

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    1. I have read nine of the Nightmareland stories to date, Ellen, including yours, which I thought was brilliant and horribly upsetting. I think the standard is really good this year so far and I am also very excited about this books launch. I am glad you liked mine. That makes me feel very happy.

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