Writer's Block: Solved

I didn't say it would be easy

Hi Friends,

If you haven’t read Alexander Chee’s HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL: Essays, which both is and isn’t a primer on how to do that, then add this book to your holiday wish lists or buy yourself a present. This collection of essays changed so much about how I thought about writing from your own experience but also read like an engrossing memoir. It’s essential writer reading.

ANYWAY, Alex Chee answered someone’s question about writer’s block on Twitter the other day, and wrote more about it on his blog. And dammit if it didn’t unlock something I’ve been grappling with in my own writing, which I have been avoiding for about two weeks. Instead of writer’s block, which I say all the time I don’t get (which I rarely get) I’ve been saying things like oh, I’m just trying to figure something out about the plot or I need to do more thinking. I DO need to do more thinking, but it’s not about the book; it’s about me and what I’m afraid of with this new book. There’s always something to be afraid of.

I have encountered this shame spiral many times—the baby book that never got completed for my daughter, the pile of things to take to the tailor, the books not read, the submissions I’m behind on. I know it well. I can excuse away this spiral in my own writing, though, because I’m very, very well practiced at justifying not writing. I’m busy! I have to think about it some more! I’m tired! My writer’s block and procrastination are very linked. But dammit if Alex didn’t say exactly what I needed to hear, without even knowing it.

Alex says:

Dammit. I hate it when the thorny knot I’ve been turning over in my mind for weeks is all an illusion. There is no knot. Or, my efforts to untie it have just made it worse. Anyway, read all of Alex’s post, and the rest of his brillant blog here. I’ve got some writing to do.

There’s a vaccine coming. Take it when it’s your turn. Keep wearing your mask.

OXOXO,

Kate