How Does One Defeat Writer’s Block?

August 13, 2022

WHAT IS THE SECRET TO GREAT WRITING?

Whenever I get the same question over and over I ponder the thought of posting up an answer, if only for the challenge. This of course assumes I have an answer. Over my writing career I have published three books, and written five. The fourth one will release on January 1st, in 2023 “Mastering the Metaverse” a 600-page exercise in understanding all things Metaverse. On Jan 1st of 2024, I will release my first novel, a spy thriller involving three students and an Entrepreneur who together teach machines a new way to trade stocks using artificial intelligence. All of the usual affairs, suspense, and high-tech wonders weave throughout the book. This unique band of next generation wonder kids suddenly realize other powerful people want what they have created. They are chased around the world as their accounts load into the billions. Be careful what you ask for. Apparently vast sums of money come with unique problems.

I started the spy thriller in 2020-2021 while Covid forced us all to stay home and clean out the garage. Mine is still dirty because I decided to get an MBA and write books instead. This brings us to the concept of “writers block”, what is it and most all, how does one get rid of it? This problem is more difficult if you fancy yourself as a Type A personality. While juggling professors in grad school, I would take weekends and open time to write my books.

As a Type A who feels like only a PH’D level of comprehension will do when I take on a task, I decided about half through the spy novel, I needed to bone up on Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse, two things that will change our lives (by a lot) by 2030. So, what do I do? I decided to write whitepapers on A.I, and Quantum computing thinking this will solve my knowledge gap in order to be smart enough to write my high-tech spy novel. The reality is I stopped writing my spy novel because it became obvious some new technologies needed to be invented to finish the book. Houston, we have a problem. I did not feel comfortable that I had the knowledge to really make the book a great novel. I needed to do something first, I needed to gain more knowledge. Could this be the source of your writers block?

In order to really nail the storyline, I had to first solve some huge technology problems we have with the Metaverse, if only on paper. My Metaverse white paper is now a 600-page cutting edge book on future technologies. You see, in the future it will be possible to be in two places at once. Great for people who may need an alibi. Great for my spy thriller.

I then finished reading and comprehending a small fraction of things related to Einstein and the Theory of Relatively. I soon got hooked and felt I had enough knowledge to be dangerous but was along way off from debating the greatest thinkers of our day, well OK, not so much our day, but back to the days of Nicola Tesla, Einstein, and Sigmund Freud. I had studied Freud when writing “Mastering Your Diva”, a book I wrote about the art of debating with a person who is highly gifted at the science of winning arguments that make no sense, and are logically corrupt. Having great success in the past and given the above why would I, the wizard of words, succumb to writer’s block?

Well, it starts with why you are writing something in the first place. Is it you goal to write a novel to become famous or to be on the New York Times best seller list? Or is it to just wade through a grad school project by researching a subject that you have mild to no interest in, but the project stands between you and your diploma.

Maybe you are posting up for a web site or writing a business plan. These are all classic cases for writers block. The truth is I write because I enjoy it and I have been writing a long time. So have you if you are reading this. Lesson One: Great writing evolves from great reading.

Even writing an email is still writing. The key is to understand the why, what for, and to create a plan to attack the task of writing. It makes no difference if the task is a grad school thesis, an email, or a novel. They all start with what is in your head. The theory is the same. Let’s start with Sigmund Freud to get into the brain. We can then look at how to fix the writing problem. Easy Peasy if you first get your head right.

UNDERSTAND YOUR PURPOSE AND WHAT IS IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND.

Even Freud had mentors and he used them to gain knowledge about how our mind works . He contributed to the state of the mind process by defining the mind as storing information in either a Conscious State, a Subconscious State, and way back in the dark area of your brain is where the Unconscious Mind lives. For today we will skip over the Unconscious Mind, this is where “block outs” live and where the mind stores tragedy like a violent attack, killing, or an awful event that changed your life. It is where you store things you would rather forget.

Over time you do forget, but your mind still has a deeply stored memory of the event. Sometimes, very skilled phycologists can get into this part of your brain, but it may take years to open this lock. Freud discovered this when after years of therapy, he was able to address a patient who was severely depressed, and she finally learned through years of therapy why she hated her father. It had ruined her life. Freud cured her and reasoned her block was deep inside her unconscious mind. We are not talking about writers block in the Unconscious mind, just pointing out your brain stores things like your past in different places. Writer’s block lives in the conscious and subconscious mind.

We want to address your current state of mind (the conscious mind) and what may be bothering you in your subconscious mind. Great writing takes great focus along with a good dose of passion for what you are doing. If your mind is pulling things out of your subconscious mind as you write, it will impact your writing and route energy and neurons into multitasking, taking away from your writing skills. The brain is capable of writing a book while your subconscious mind plays back things you wished you had said to your boss or spouse a week ago. One part of your brain is going left, and the other part is going right. In the process you are robing your brain of dedicating itself to the task at hand, writing a great article.

Examples of things that live in your subconscious mind might include an argument you had with someone close to you, or your child telling you what changes you need to make to be a good parent. It just simmers and simmers in this part of your brain. Some of us try and have a few drinks or take a sleeping pill to temporarily exit the subconscious brain. It works for awhile but then you are driving your kid to soccer practice wondering how such a great kid could say something that hurt so much. You start to wonder, am I a good parent or employee?

I want to stress great writing is not just about where your head is at. There are many other things that impact great writing, like knowledge, understanding your subject matter, taking the time to do good research, and doing your homework by actually observing people and knowledge that correlate to your subject matter. An understanding of how to use the language you are writing in also contributes to great writing. That said, you won’t be as effective doing research if your heart and soul are not into it. Research is like being a detective, you may have to go down roads that time after time turn up empty. Eventually you will find what you are seeking and now you possess the confidence and skill to turn an idea into words that matter.

Great writing comes from painting a picture that people want to read in words. You are painting a picture with them. In the business world, you are a lawyer making a closing argument on why your marketing plan is the key to your company meeting the challenges ahead. You want your readers (or listeners) to be fully engaged. You want them wanting to understand your point of view that has been well researched.

THE CLOSING ARGUMENT FOR GREAT WRITING AND UNLOCKING WRITER’S BLOCK

Ever wonder why going for a run is good for the Brain? It is because energy creates energy. When you get your blood flowing you get your brain flowing. It does not have to be a run, make it a good walk. The point is unlocking writers block means putting your body and your brain in top working order. Make sure your diet is full of fuel that fuels your brain. Get on a fixed routine for exercise and you will see those great ideas will start to flow right after your exercise or even while you are walking.

Lastly, get your head right. Stop worrying about things you cannot change and focus on the things you can change. Write down what is bothering you. Just you in a room or a park sitting with an empty notepad. Everyone has something or some relationship or some problem that they can improve. Release the fear.

Write down a plan or the things you need to do to just solve some of the problems in your life. Start with just one small thing you know you need to do. Some problems take many steps to solve. They all start with taking the first step. Once you begin to attack your subconscious mind by cleaning out the things that are eating away at you, your writing will regain passion and you will ignite what is really inside of you. When the brain is firing on all cylinders you will empower the brain to deliver the best version of yourself in everything you do-especially in the power of writing. Good luck and yes, you can write a novel if you really want to. If I can do it, you can do it.

P.S. You will know you are on the right path when “Word” gives you a 100% on your grammar. After all, it won’t be long before the machines are writing books for us. A.I. is already writing great works of music that rival and even outscore Chopin and Mozart. Funny thing, it was the music experts (people) that chose the machine music over the best composers ever known to mankind. The details are in my whitepaper on A.I. available on Linked-In.

Signing Off,

Botdorf Research Group, LLC
John C Botdorf
Botdorfjohn@gmail.com