Writer's Block Is a Symptom, Not a Diagnosis

My hand hurt. In the muscle right at the base of my thumb, there was pain kind of like a cramp.

It came out of nowhere, disappeared just as quickly, but kept coming back.

I had blood work done to see if some nutritional deficiency was affecting the muscle. I drink gallons of water, so I was sure I wasn’t dehydrated. It was in my nondominant hand, so it wasn’t a writer’s cramp.

It turned out to be a repetitive stress injury from the way I was holding my crochet hook.

The moral of the story? The cramp was not the problem. The cramp was a symptom of something else that was wrong.

Now, a question: have you ever had writer’s block?

You sit down to write an article or an email or even a social media post, and your mind goes totally blank. The cursor blinks, mocking you.

Here’s the thing: writer’s block is not a real problem.

It’s a symptom of something else that’s wrong.

When I’ve suffered writer’s block in the past, here are things that were really going on:

🍊I didn’t know enough. If I sit down to write about a topic, the hard part is usually picking a place to start. I have a flood of information in my head and need to choose one thread to follow.

If, instead of a clamor, I hear crickets? That’s a sign I don’t know enough about the topic to write about it.

I need to talk to more people, read more, experiment more, or pick something else.

🍊I didn’t believe what I was saying. This one would sometimes sneak up on me early in my copywriting career.

Early-career writers will often take whatever jobs they can get, because bills.

If I know all about a product, and I cannot think of a way to explain why someone should buy it, it’s probably a sign that I don’t believe they should.

🍊I was intimidated by the audience. This form of writer’s block usually sounds like, “I know what I want to say, but it sounds stupid.”

It’s fear of being judged for a thought, protecting itself by refusing to articulate any thought at all.

🍊I was trying to fit the ocean in a bucket. This is the opposite of “I didn’t know enough.”

I knew too much. There were too many threads to follow, too many rabbit holes to go down, and I didn’t know how to summarize all of it into a neat package.

The solution to this is to forget trying to summarize it all. Pick one thing. Out of the whole ocean of information, pick one bucket to talk about.

Then narrow it down further.

One cup. One tablespoon. One teaspoon.

There’s potency in distillation.

🍊I was burned out. Writing is a tough thing to push through when you’re exhausted—physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Even after more than 20 years at it, there are still times I can get words on the page, but I know they could be better.

In deadline news days, I learned to push past it, though there are some pieces I would still love to go back and revise.

Today, I write to build brands and to market. There are no marketing emergencies.

The best thing I can do when this block hits is walk away. Eat, sleep, take a walk, rejuvenate my soul, then come back and try again.

If you think you get writer’s block, it’s like thinking you have a cramp.

It’s a symptom, not a diagnosis.

You can just suffer through it, or you can explore what’s behind it and correct the problem at its source.