I have recently found myself having the same conversation with different authors. What do you do when you can’t write? We’re not talking writer’s block where you don’t know WHAT to write. In fact, it’s the opposite. You have multiple ideas. Scenes you know in detail. Characters calling to you from all directions. But when it comes time to put mind to paper, you freeze.

For many of us, this happens after our first book. Knowing what we know about revisions and what lies ahead, petrifies us and fills our brain with the need to make everything perfect the first time around. There’s also the fear of production quality. The idea that you may be a one book wonder, that whatever you put on paper now can’t match up. Or, maybe it’s the fear that you won’t be able to finish this book, that you’ll only get a few chapters in and not have what it takes to continue.

Does it matter that these thoughts are irrational? Nope. Wouldn’t even matter if they had truth in them. Here’s the key: for writing to become a career, one has to write. So the question becomes how to break through this House of Writing Horrors.

Like with all fears, confronting them works best–for me anyway. I give myself small goals and begin by writing a page a day to get the willies out. My stomach churns, my hands get clammy, but I make myself write the page. I might like it or it may be garbage. The task becomes to simply write. Sometimes, I let myself just write what I want. If there’s a scene or character that speaks to me, I begin there. Beginning of the book, middle, end–all good choices. Talking into a tape recorder works too. Telling my story, rather than writing it. Letting myself not write but getting the thoughts out anyway is a good first step. Then, once I’m ready, I transcribe what I have. With each page the fear subsides, the heart rate slows.

I can’t say that once you’ve learned how to conquer the fear, it doesn’t return. It does. Again, and again, again. But knowing that you chased it away once should give you confidence that you can shoo it again. Just focus on the scenes in your head and the flow of the words. Eventually, they’ll whisk you away like they were able to do many first drafts ago.

About The Author

Margie Gelbwasser has written for a variety of magazines including Writer's Digest, SELF, LHJ, Girl's Life, and NJ Monthly. Her first YA novel, INCONVENIENT, will be published by Flux in November 2010. She's currently at work on her second YA novel out by Flux in Fall 2011.  Read more about Margie Gelbwasser.

Related posts:

1. Connect With Margie Gelbwasser: Writing Outside The Box
2. Connect with Margie Gelbwasser: Boy Books
3. Connect with Margie Gelbwasser: Keeping Writing Fun
4. Connect with Margie Gelbwasser: The Mystique of Characters
5. Connect with Margie Gelbwasser: Excuses