Hey there, and welcome to Nothing but the Words. I’m your author coach, Candice L Davis.

This week, I was catching up with a friend who’s working on her next book. 

When I asked her how it was going, she paused and then said, “Child, I can’t even write right now.”

She hasn’t been writing at all.

The pandemic, the incompetent political leadership, the extra effort required just to go out to buy food, concern for her family members—some of who’ve been diagnosed with the virus, and the nonstop conversations about race and social justice have totally shut down her ability to create.

Rather than sit and look at a blinking cursor for an hour every day, she put her book on hold.

So let me just say, I totally understand where her head is.

She’s not the first person to respond to the current crisis that way.

In her case, putting her book on pause is a good thing. 

She doesn’t have a pending deadline.

She’s an experienced writer, and she knows how to get back to it when she’s ready.

And most importantly, she’s content with her reasons for not writing at the moment.

Trust me. She’s got this.

But what you? What about those moments when you really want to write but the words just won’t come?

Another friend has a pending deadline with a publisher, and frankly, she can’t afford to miss it.

Some of my coaching clients have planned online events or business promotions around their book launch dates. 

They can’t afford to delay their writing either.

As for me, I really want to have my book finished on the other side of this mad, mad episode. 

We will absolutely get to the other side, and it’s important to me to know I grew and evolved and achieved important goals during this time. Writing my next book is one of those goals.

In episode 8, I shared some practical things you can do to keep writing when life gets stressful. If you’re having any trouble writing at all, I do recommend you go back and listen to that episode for the first time, or if you’ve already heard it, listen to it again.

But in this week’s episode, I want to share what to do when you sit down to write and the words just don’t come. 

If you’ve never had that experience, I can pretty much guarantee you will, my friend. 

Most authors have that moment. You sit down to write, you look over your outline, you put your fingers on the keyboard—and nothing.

You just sit there. Thinking. Your thoughts are all over the place, and none of them are good enough for you to write down.

Or you start typing, but nothing sounds right. So you just keep deleting what you wrote and starting over. Until you finally just say forget it and tab over to read your email instead.

This is called being human.

The good news is that, as you practice writing more, you’ll have less of these moments.

But let’s talk about what to do when you’re in that moment. Here are a few ways you can break through the ice and get unstuck when your thoughts are frozen.

#1. Write about not being able to write. It may sound counter intuitive, but trust me. This can help. Open a new document or turn to a fresh page in your journal and write about all the thoughts that are keeping you stuck.

Write about how it feels to struggle with writer’s block in that moment.

Write about all the thoughts standing between you and your book.

Write about the distractions.

Write about your concerns. 

And after you dump all of that on the page, write about what you’d like to believe about writing in this moment. 

So for example, after you’ve written about how stressed out you are about having to put on a mask and pack disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer to run to the store for coffee and how that stress is keeping you from writing, write about what you’d like to believe about writing.

Write about how you have important things to say and your book is going to really change lives or entertain your readers.

Write about how you’re going to write 1000 words today.

Write about how happy you are that writing is a skill you can get better at.

Write about how committed you are to your book project.

Write about how committed you are to writing a sloppy first draft so you can get to the good stuff.

Then go immediately into writing your book and take those thoughts with you.

#2. A second tool you can use is freewriting. But in this case, don’t freewrite about your thoughts. Instead, choose one topic from your outline (please have an outline!) and freewrite about that.

So if you’re writing a book about classic film, for example, set a timer for ten minutes and write for 10 minutes about why Double Indemnity is quintessential film noir.

If you’re writing a book about meditation, free write for ten minutes about why your breath is all you need to have a successful meditation practice.

If you’re writing about how your life, pick one moment from your outline and write about it for 10 minutes.

Freewriting is nonstop, so keep your fingers moving until the timer goes off. No censoring. No deleting. No backspacing or scratching through words you don’t like.

Run-on sentences are great, and one long sentence is even better. Even if you have to write about what you don’t know or questions you need to answer, just write about the topic until the timer goes off.

It doesn’t matter if you use any of that content or not. The point is to just get yourself into the flow of writing.

Once that timer goes off, put your free-writing aside. And work on your book.

#3. The third tool you can use when the words won’t come is reading. 

When I was writing a memoir for a ghostwriting client last year, I started every writing session by reading a few pages from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

It helped me to shift into the mindset of writing a memoir. It helped me to get into the rhythm of the written word.

A lot of new writers worry about being influenced too much by other writers if they read while they write. That’s understandable if you’re not sure you’ve developed your own style and voice yet.

If you’re worried about that, or if you’re worried that you’ll start comparing your book to what you’re reading, just read from a different genre.

If you’re writing a memoir, read from a novel.

If you’re writing a novel, read some narrative nonfiction.

Whatever it is, just make sure you choose great writing.

Spending ten or fifteen minutes reading will help you leave the chaos of the world behind.

It will get you back into the rhythm of the written word and inspire you to get creative.

If you’re not writing and you’re fine with that right now, then go with God. You’ll come back to it when you’re ready.

But if you really want to write, and you’re sitting down to do it every day, but your writing time is unproductive, use these tools.

I use them. My clients use them. And they work.

Write about not being able to write. And then write what you want to believe about writing your book.

Free-write about any topic in your book.

Read great writing from any genre, something that helps you escape the ordinary world and gets you back into the rhythm of the written word.

It doesn’t matter which tool you use. Just pick one and expect it to work for you.

Because if you really want to write right now, you absolutely can.

That’s all for this week, my friends. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, I’d really appreciate a positive review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Reviews make a huge difference for me and for the show.

Thanks for listening to Nothing but the Words. I’m your author coach Candice L Davis, and I’ll see you next time.