A writer's block is like an iceberg — a significant portion of it hides beneath the surface.
The tip of the iceberg is the obvious, easily discernible challenge you face, like: Lack of Inspiration, Time Constraints, External Obligations…
The bulk of the iceberg, submerged beneath the water, represents the subconscious beliefs, fears, and emotional barriers that hinder your creative process — Fear of Failure, Self-Doubt, Perfectionism…
To overcome writer's block, you need to dive deep and understand the underlying causes of your struggles, so you can then apply tailored strategies to address those issues.
Example
Let’s say, after completing the self-reflection exercise, you identified Time Constraints as a source of your writer’s block.
A popular strategy for addressing that is time blocking, so you decide to revamp your writing schedule.
It looks great on paper, but then…
You can’t seem to stick to it.
You’re still unable to write.
Because there’s a deeper issue underneath the Time Constraints, like: Self-doubt, Fear of Failure, or Impostor Syndrome.
“Tweaking your schedule” doesn’t address these underlying fears.
This is one reason a specific strategy that works for other writers may not work for you.
Other Examples
Here’s a few other examples of how the “Tip” of your creative block might mask a (Deeper Underlying Issue):
“Lack of Inspiration”
You constantly find yourself throwing away ideas before you give them a chance to develop, thinking they're not good enough.
But, deep down, it's not the lack of ideas that's the problem; it's the fear of not being able to execute them perfectly.
(Perfectionism)
More brainstorming sessions and idea generation strategies are great for Lack of Inspiration, but they won’t address Perfectionism.
“Procrastination”
You spend countless hours researching every detail of your story, convincing yourself that thorough preparation is essential.
But it's actually a fear of failure that's driving this behavior, because diving into writing without all the facts feels too risky.
(Fear of Failure)
A “just start” timed writing strategy might help you break out of Procrastination, but it won’t address the Fear of Failure.
There are tons of potential combinations.
Creative blocks that mask other underlying issues can be continuously interchangeable, and they’re unique to your experience.
They can also be “stacked,” having multiple layers.
Multi-layered Example
Here’s what that might look like:
“Procrastination”
(Perfectionism)
(Self-Doubt)
(Fear of Failure)
Here’s how it plays out:
You know you’re procrastinating.
That’s easy to identify.
You attempt to “just write” by doing sprints.
You set a timer for a short period and commit to writing without judgment.
But you end up with a jumbled mess of thousands of words that never seem right, no matter how much you revise and edit.
Because of… Perfectionism.
Ah-hah! Yes. That must be the issue.
First drafts are supposed to be messy.
You plow forward, resisting the urge to edit, putting words on the page.
Words for the sake of words.
But… Self-critical voices creep in:
“This is absolute garbage.”
“I’m just rambling.”
Self-doubt grows stronger the farther you stumble on.
You come across a social media post about using affirmations to combat self-doubt, so you start incorporating them into your daily routine.
But these positive statements feel insincere because, deep down, you're terrified of failure.
Affirmations might sound nice, but empty words won’t address the underlying fear.
Fear of Failure is the old ice, thick and hard at the bottom, undergirding everything above.
Here comes a nasty circle:
Fear of Failure is the true underlying source of your creative blocks.
And if left unaddressed, it leads back to procrastinating.
You avoid “just starting” because it won’t be perfect.
And you wind up doubting yourself…
Again.
It’s a vicious cycle.
“Just starting…” (with sprints) might address Procrastination; it might even touch Perfectionism.
But timed writing exercises don’t address Self-doubt, and they certainly don’t penetrate Fear of Failure.
You need the right strategy for a specific block. And, in some cases, a single strategy can address multiple layers of blocks.
Reframing is a strategy that actually addresses:
Perfectionism
Self-doubt
Fear of Failure
(There’s an upcoming email in The Writer’s Reboot series about Reframing.)
So, what strategies can help you address the fundamental problem and multiple issues all at once?
How do you get to the core issue of your creative blocks and figure out what’s really holding you back?
How can you understand the different aspects of your blocks and how they're related?
I’ve developed a process for revealing these layers.
EXERCISE
Take a look at the assessment of your results from the self-reflection exercise — patterns, themes — and the email you sent me with the top sources of your writer’s block.
Go through the specific instances of blocks you listed and for each one, ask yourself:
“What is the deeper underlying fear?”
The goal is to find any subconscious source that may be manifesting as multiple sources.
You’ll probably still have more than one source, but if you can reduce, say, 5 sources to 2, you can streamline the choice of strategies for overcoming your blocks.
WRITE ME
Reply to the Subconscious Creative Blocks email I sent you and share any underlying sources you’ve identified.
The next email in The Writer’s Reboot series explores the other types of blocks sabotaging your writing career, and then we’ll get into strategies.
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