Overcoming creative blocks isn’t just about generating ideas and crafting sentences — it’s about addressing the deeper fears and challenges that show up in every aspect of your writing life.
Inner doubts creep in, not only when you’re staring at the blank page but also when you think about sharing your work with the world.
Marketing your book, building a platform, networking, and navigating the publishing process all come with their own set of challenges.
Promoting your work might feel like bragging, or you’re afraid you’ll either annoy people or that no one will care.
Platform building can be overwhelming, with so many tools to learn and too much advice pulling you in different directions.
Networking makes you feel like an imposter — cheesy, thirsty, uncool.
And the publishing process can feel like a judgment of your worth. It stirs up anxieties about rejection, bad reviews, or whether you’ve chosen the right path.
Any of these can stop you in your tracks.
But they don’t mean you’re not cut out for this. When you get clear about why they’re blocking you, you can strategically work through them.
My client Sophia’s primary fear wasn’t related to writing. During our visualization session, we discovered she was afraid of being seen.
She has published four books. Her ratings and reviews are fantastic, and she has a loyal group of readers asking for more stories. There’s no issue with the quality of her writing.
But her audience is small, and after paying for editing and cover design, she’s left with just a tiny profit from book sales.
She knows she needs to reach more readers, but she identifies as an introvert.
She has been quietly writing and releasing her books without doing any promotion at all.
She reads and admires a lot of authors in her genre, but she’s afraid of reaching out to them.
In today’s publishing world, it’s easier to get your books out there, but getting your work noticed is still an enormous challenge.
Regardless of your publishing route, you have to be willing to promote your book, which starts with simply talking about it.
We worked through Sophia’s reluctance by breaking down the overwhelming goal of “marketing her books” into manageable actions.
Her 3x3 strategy included things like:
Writing one social media post per week talking about where the ideas for her books came from.
Sending friend requests to other authors in her genre
Instead of cold DM’ing them, awkwardly saying “Hi. Please network with me” she’s starting genuine conversations by first recommending their books on her page and tagging them.
She’s simply practicing putting herself out there and building confidence in doing it.
What’s one fear or block “beyond the page” you’ve been facing lately?
What’s one small action you could take today to start moving through it?
Maybe it’s reaching out to a fellow writer for advice. Or researching a platform you’ve been avoiding. Or even jotting down a few sentences about your work to share online.
These challenges don’t go away entirely, but when you understand why they’re stopping you, you can break them down and they become doable.
Slade
For more strategies on overcoming writer’s block and developing a sustainable writing practice, subscribe to The Writer’s Reboot.
What’s really stopping you?
Uncover your blocks and get back to writing with renewed energy and purpose.
For daily posts about writing mindset,
follow me on Bluesky