Writing
Is it Possible to Beat Writer’s Block?
How Walking Saved My Writing
I don’t know if writer’s block actually exists.
What I do know is that I suffer from something that I call “fear of the blank page.”
I have wasted countless hours sitting at my laptop, hypnotized by the blinking line that stood between me and my first word. I have read, listened to, and tried, multiple strategies that encourage writers to embrace stream-of-consciousness, “write yourself into the story, or the one that many of us wrestle with: turning off your inner editor while creating.
I felt like something was wrong with me. Why can’t I start? I felt that nailing a killer first-line would help fire some pistons in my brain.
Yet, I have multiple unfinished novels, creative projects, and articles in the recesses of Google Docs and Microsoft Word folders that did get their first line, page, or chapter but have suffered the same abandonment throughout the years.
Maybe the problem is found in the way I write.
Architects vs. Gardeners
In an interview, George R.R. Martin once described two archetypes of writers. The first he called Architects. These writers like to plot out storylines chapter by chapter and use charts or recipes as a road map for their writing.
I have downloaded the org charts, uploaded the writer’s apps, and tried my best to follow the way of these sages; however, I do not naturally write this way.
Instead, I fall into the second camp of writers, Gardeners. We wistful bunch like to show up and allow the story to tell itself to us. We build from what we have previously written and allow the characters or narrative to take on a life of their own. We are merely observing and documenting.
This metaphor fits nicely with my real life, as gardening is also one of my favorite hobbies. I love taking care of my vegetable garden and herbs in the best way possible, and I love waking up each morning to see how they have grown. My job is to show up and help to keep them alive.
The danger here, of course, is when you show up and have no access to the imaginative spark that propelled your 2,000-word fever dream yesterday.
Perhaps like you, I would sit and stare and wait for some spark that was not there. I would write and delete and rewrite and tweak and delete and repeat.
Something needed to change.
Walk It While I Talk It
At the beginning of June, I began a new journey in my creative process. I started waking up early each morning and walking.
I know. I sound like a YouTube millionaire trying to get you to buy my $2,000 course on writing. I promise you that waking up at 5:30 A.M. has less to do with my results and more to do with me being a morning person and a parent of a spirited five-year-old who, once awake, demands a great deal of attention.
What I found in this practice was freedom from the blank screen.
As I strolled along my neighborhood sidewalks, I would use voice-to-text to capture my thoughts while looking up at the picturesque sunrise — and the street when crossing so that my narration wasn’t cut short by a t-bone.
On my first day trying this technique, I dictated 500 words which served as an introduction to an article that had been sitting in my personal purgatory for over three months.
While this achievement wasn’t earth-shattering, it beat the 300 words I was able to write later that afternoon while sitting down at my desk working on a separate project.
The advantage I soon found is that using my typical office hours as a jumping-off point from this previous spur of writing allowed me the freedom and creativity necessary for implementing an editing routine.
On my second day, I was able to dictate and edit an entire 1,200-word article. A feat that previously would have taken me a whole week.
It has been a month since I began to walk my way out of writer’s block, and at the end of this month, I average 1,500 words dictated and 500 words written at my desk later in the morning.
The problem I’m facing now is generating ideas for articles because I’m writing them much faster than I used to. I have begun building a bank of titles or topics I can draw from on my walks.
I have also begun to feel the creative permission to look at some of my old attempts at novels or perhaps start a new one (The Gardener in me is still alive and, as always, excited by the possibility of trying out a new project).
Will my morning walk cure your writing problems? I don’t know to be honest. What I know is that setting a daily routine that both got my body moving and took my eyes off the blank page allowed me to feel peace about writing (or speaking) whatever came to my mind and then returning to it later for editing an organization.
Don’t Write Alone
The last thing I will leave you with is this: if you desire to write consistently, whether as a career or hobby, I suggest joining a writing group.
My writing group of three (including myself) has fluctuated days of the week, ran into times where none of us could regularly attend, and has seen multiple variations of writing projects. One of us was writing a fantasy novel, another was working on self-help articles, and I was writing food reviews. But what worked was asking for specific types of feedback — line edits or comments on tone and pacing — and showing up as often as we could.
Without this group, I think my entire catalog here on Medium would still be in a Google Doc, so thank you, Johnny Button and Steven R. Durgin.
So what are you going to do, friend? How are you going to face your writing obstacle? If you want to walk, I highly recommend trying today and letting me know how it goes. If walking isn’t viable for you, or you find something else that works, please share it here so that all of us can learn from your experience!
