News and Thoughts
"Drop by Drop"
I never get writer’s block. I have content coming out of my pores. You want 600 words on maize production in the Andes? I’ll have it to you by Friday. How much do you pay a word? - Author Gary Shteyngart, in an interview with LitHub
I laughed when I saw the quote above, partly because it was so surprising in an article quoting many authors on their struggles with writer’s block and partly because I think Shteyngart was kidding, at least a little. I don’t know any writers who don’t struggle with writer’s block at least occasionally, and for some of us, the writing experience can be more like that of nineteenth-century poet Thomas Campbell, as cleverly related by family friend Lady Saba Smith Holland:
Campbell wrote with great toil; poetry came from him drop by drop. Sydney Smith used to say that when he was delivered of a couplet, he took to his bed, had straw laid down, the knocker tied up, and expected his friends to call and make inquiries; the answer at the door being invariably, “Mr. Campbell and his little couplet are doing as well as can be expected!”
In my case, if I’m writing advertising copy or a feature article, I usually cruise along just fine. It’s when I’m writing something personal that I get stuck. It’s as if the story is inside me, fully formed, but when I try to transplant it onto the page, I can’t dislodge it.
I’ve just started trying the Pomodoro Technique, a time-management tool developed by Francesco Cirillo. It involves working for 25 minutes (you actually use a timer) with no distractions whatsoever, then taking a very brief break, then working another 25 minutes. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the first step. It’s been helpful for me because writer’s block makes me feel anxious, so I distract myself from that discomfort by checking email, folding laundry, or whatever . . . until I’ve run out of available time. With the Pomodoro blocks, I can’t do that, which helps me focus on the work. Even if I don’t come up with much, a little is better than none at all! And sometimes if I can get something on the page, the rest flows more easily.
What techniques do you use to get past writer’s block? I’m open to more ideas! (No putting down straw, though. I don’t think my allergies could take it.)
Sarah Jane
More information about the Pomodoro Technique can be found here.