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Neil Gaiman gave this example: (though I've embellished to make it a story.)
So my doctor came into the office and told me "Sorry, I don't feel like treating you today."
I asked him why.
He answered, "I have Doctor's block. I just can't see the point of putting bandages on you now."
If your doctor got stuck on your disease, I bet you would be really happy if he took the day off and said, "Sorry, I can't go on! I fail as a doctor!" You must be really happy seeing your doctor leave you behind in the office staring at him while you feel like you are dying.
What a good doctor does when he's not sure is to research the answer and consult with other doctors on the answer. He comes back to you with an answer that he (or she) thinks is reasonable through knowledge. He doesn't take the day off and write on his blog "OMG I have Doctor's Block and I can't treat this patient. What am I going to do?" and expect an outpouring of sympathy.
Neil Gaiman said we don't get Writer's block, we just get stuck. And getting stuck is something that happens. The difference is that writers use this getting stuck to laze their days away saying they can't go on and lamenting the end of their careers.
For how many people has this happened for you too? Do carpenter's get carpenter's block? Does the president get "President's block?" Does the Prime Minister take a day off because of Prime Minister's Block? Do actors quit in the middle of a play because they get actor's block?
What's true is that your doctor also has days where he's tending to your stupid butt being in his office for something that he's told you at least 3 times that could be cured if you just took preventative measures in the first place, but he has no option but to treat you. You should treat your writing as the same.
Why do we writers get the prime excuse of writer's block and no other profession in the world gets our excuse or so-called sickness?
I'll tell you a secret. You think this is hard right now. You think that the world has come to an end. It's going to get much worse. If you plan to get published, guess what, your life is going to turn a lot harder. Writers get no love. We are at the bottom rung of the artist's professions. It takes hours to consume our work and by the end of it we are left with criticism. You are not in a bunny field. You are dreaming. Snap out of it. You are on a sheer cliff climbing up with boulders coming at you. You can choose to let that boulder sink you to the bottom of the cliff, dodge it or break it. Which will it be? Because after that if you chance to climb that cliff to the top--you have yet another cliff to climb with yet more boulders. It never gets easier.
You think you should get adoration and love for what you are doing--you are in the wrong profession. You are doing the wrong thing. After all, why would a writer write 3,000 words on how they have writer's block when they could be working on their book? That's not writer's block. That is you whining about how you don't want to work through your problems in your book. You want praise or some kind of human contact that makes you feel better because if you look up you can't see the top. That's fine to want to complain, but going off of writing for months and claiming to writer's block is a lame excuse you made up in your head to not do the more unpleasant parts of writing.
It is all right to take a break from writing. It is all right to want to goof off, but don't make lame excuses for yourself like writer's block. If you are stuck, work through the problem like every other profession on the planet.
1. Figure out what the problem is.
2. Find stories that were similar to it that may have had the same problems. What solutions did they use?
3. Research for more information.
4. Ask other people about the place you are stuck.
Work through it. Done.
In another words, get off your lazy butt and do something about it. Writing and art is not all roses. It never was--no matter what division of creativity you take there is always a downside. Your job is to work past those problems and make yourself better.
I never get writer's block. It died like Peter Pan's fairies when I stopped believing in it and worked past it. It's like doing your taxes--you don't want to do it, but it still has to be done.
So my doctor came into the office and told me "Sorry, I don't feel like treating you today."
I asked him why.
He answered, "I have Doctor's block. I just can't see the point of putting bandages on you now."
If your doctor got stuck on your disease, I bet you would be really happy if he took the day off and said, "Sorry, I can't go on! I fail as a doctor!" You must be really happy seeing your doctor leave you behind in the office staring at him while you feel like you are dying.
What a good doctor does when he's not sure is to research the answer and consult with other doctors on the answer. He comes back to you with an answer that he (or she) thinks is reasonable through knowledge. He doesn't take the day off and write on his blog "OMG I have Doctor's Block and I can't treat this patient. What am I going to do?" and expect an outpouring of sympathy.
Neil Gaiman said we don't get Writer's block, we just get stuck. And getting stuck is something that happens. The difference is that writers use this getting stuck to laze their days away saying they can't go on and lamenting the end of their careers.
For how many people has this happened for you too? Do carpenter's get carpenter's block? Does the president get "President's block?" Does the Prime Minister take a day off because of Prime Minister's Block? Do actors quit in the middle of a play because they get actor's block?
What's true is that your doctor also has days where he's tending to your stupid butt being in his office for something that he's told you at least 3 times that could be cured if you just took preventative measures in the first place, but he has no option but to treat you. You should treat your writing as the same.
Why do we writers get the prime excuse of writer's block and no other profession in the world gets our excuse or so-called sickness?
I'll tell you a secret. You think this is hard right now. You think that the world has come to an end. It's going to get much worse. If you plan to get published, guess what, your life is going to turn a lot harder. Writers get no love. We are at the bottom rung of the artist's professions. It takes hours to consume our work and by the end of it we are left with criticism. You are not in a bunny field. You are dreaming. Snap out of it. You are on a sheer cliff climbing up with boulders coming at you. You can choose to let that boulder sink you to the bottom of the cliff, dodge it or break it. Which will it be? Because after that if you chance to climb that cliff to the top--you have yet another cliff to climb with yet more boulders. It never gets easier.
You think you should get adoration and love for what you are doing--you are in the wrong profession. You are doing the wrong thing. After all, why would a writer write 3,000 words on how they have writer's block when they could be working on their book? That's not writer's block. That is you whining about how you don't want to work through your problems in your book. You want praise or some kind of human contact that makes you feel better because if you look up you can't see the top. That's fine to want to complain, but going off of writing for months and claiming to writer's block is a lame excuse you made up in your head to not do the more unpleasant parts of writing.
It is all right to take a break from writing. It is all right to want to goof off, but don't make lame excuses for yourself like writer's block. If you are stuck, work through the problem like every other profession on the planet.
1. Figure out what the problem is.
2. Find stories that were similar to it that may have had the same problems. What solutions did they use?
3. Research for more information.
4. Ask other people about the place you are stuck.
Work through it. Done.
In another words, get off your lazy butt and do something about it. Writing and art is not all roses. It never was--no matter what division of creativity you take there is always a downside. Your job is to work past those problems and make yourself better.
I never get writer's block. It died like Peter Pan's fairies when I stopped believing in it and worked past it. It's like doing your taxes--you don't want to do it, but it still has to be done.
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Breaking the myth and all those self-help things about writer's block.
Oh Please. Write your way through it. Writing got you there, get yourself out through writing.
Oh Please. Write your way through it. Writing got you there, get yourself out through writing.
© 2010 - 2024 KimberlyDawn
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I liked this text as, for me, it was a distinct take on writer's block and I liked the rough tone. And, interestingly, probably one of the most effective thing about it was some ideas expressed here which made me go: "No no no, this is not right!" all the time. 
And, if you want, I can tell you why. Though, probably, I agree with your general idea that people can just work on their problems if they have them and, as I said, in general I like the text.
And, if you want, I can tell you why. Though, probably, I agree with your general idea that people can just work on their problems if they have them and, as I said, in general I like the text.