How I (Finally) Overcame a Lifetime of Writer’s Block

It's no secret that the tiny island of Ireland has contributed way more than its fair share of brilliant writers and poets to the canon of literature known and loved across the globe.

The island is home to four Nobel laureates and five Booker Prize winners, and has spawned household names like James Joyce, Colm Tóibín, Maeve Binchy, and Sally Rooney.

People the world over have tried to speculate why this is. Is it something in the water? Is it the luck of the Irish?

As Colm Tóibín says,

"In Ireland, novels and plays still have a strange force. The writing of fiction and the creation of theatrical images can affect life there more powerfully and stealthily than speeches, or even legislation."

So we decided to go on a mission to learn from some of Ireland's greatest writers.

Here are just a few of the quotes that struck us:

"A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave."

Oscar Wilde cuts right to the heart of creativity here. What is creativity but the mind striking out of the grooves of regularity?

"I love communicative problems. They always introduce just enough friction for me to feel drawn into a scene, when there’s some slippage between what somebody is trying to say, or feels capable of saying, and what the other person wants to hear or is capable of hearing."

If you've read any of Sally Rooney's award-winning books, you'll recognize this device in her plots. Try the same in your work when things are feeling a little dry or slow.

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."

Nobody presents writing truths as concise and witty as Oscar Wilde. Who among us hasn't agonized over a comma for hours?

Sounds like Oscar needed a Freewrite.

"I don’t ever plot. And I do very little research, as little as possible. I prefer to use my imagination. Language is older and richer than we are and when you go in there and let go and listen, it’s possible to discover something way beyond and richer than your conscious self."

Claire Keegan's a freewriter! In this interview, Claire explains that the main character in her award-winning book, Small Things Like These, completely changed over the course of rewrites and revisions.

"The novel space is a pure space. I'm nobody once I go into that room. I'm not gay, I'm not bald, I'm not Irish. I'm not anybody. I'm nobody. I'm the guy telling the story, and the only person that matters is the person reading that story, the target. It's to get that person to feel what I'm trying to dramatize."

Colm Tóibín perfectly sums up the disembodied experience of writing here. The writer disappears and the characters take center stage.

"The important thing is not what we write but how we write, and in my opinion the modern writer must be an adventurer above all, willing to take every risk, and be prepared to founder in his effort if need be. In other words we must write dangerously."

James Joyce was certainly an adventurer, and though his notion to a "modern writer" predates ours by about a century, we don't think all that much as changed. Writers still need to take risks!

"I don’t say I was ‘proceeding down a thoroughfare.’ I say I ‘walked down the road.’ I don’t say I ‘passed a hallowed institute of learning.’ I say I ‘passed a school.’ You don’t wear all your jewellery at once. You’re much more believable if you talk in your own voice."

Maeve Binchy's own voice is apparent in every book she wrote. Her characters speak like real people, and that makes them all the more endearing.

"Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry."

What a poetic way to encapsulate the experience of writing poetry. Yeats certainly knew a thing or two about using that internal quarrel to create beautiful, timeless work.

READ NEXT: 8 Irish Writers to Read Before You Die

This article explores the facts and fiction around writer’s block, the psychology of why it happens, and the writing productivity strategies you can use to beat it for good.

Take an idea from your brain and put it on the page. It sounds simple enough, right? But all writers know, it’s not that straightforward.

Writer’s block is a “temporary or lasting failure to put words on paper.” It can last for a few minutes, days, weeks, or even months.

When you desperately want to write, experiencing a block can be frustrating and disheartening. Writer’s block affects everyone from beginners to famous, prolific, published authors, and everyone in between. If you’re feeling this way with your current writing project, you’re not alone. All is not lost. There is hope.

Whether you’re gearing up to tackle your novel, short story, poem, essay, or thesis, we’ve got you covered.

In this article, you'll learn:

• Is Writer's Block Real?
• Why Writer's Block Happens: The Psychology
• How to Overcome Writer’s Block: Expert Advice & Strategies for Breaking Through

Is Writer’s Block Real?

The debate has been raging since the first words of Sumerian were chiseled into the Kish tablet. OK, we don’t know that for sure. But whether writer’s block exists has always been a contentious topic.

From writers and academics to psychologists and armchair critics, everyone has an opinion.

Do you think it’s real? Is writer’s block a painful, unavoidable rite of passage for every writer? Or do you think it’s a handy excuse, used to steer away from the hard work of completing a substantial piece of writing?

Either way, understanding the expected and unexpected obstacles a writer faces will help you write faster, better, and more often.

Learn about the real forces working against you and decide which side of the debate you land on in our full-length article "Is Writer's Block Real?"

Why Writer’s Block Happens

Writer’s block is blamed for almost every stalled draft and abandoned idea. But we believe the real issue isn’t the block itself. What we need to talk about is what’s behind the block. Spoiler: it’s psychological.

Instead of blankly staring at an empty page or the few words you’ve managed to force out but can’t make sense of, think about what’s happening off the page.

Your mindset, habits, and emotions are only some of the factors that could be working against you.

Stress, self-doubt, perfectionism, a disorganized schedule — these are more than inconveniences. They’re stopping you from writing the book you know is inside you.

Instead of blankly staring at an empty page or the few words you’ve managed to force out but can’t make sense of, think about what’s happening off the page.

Identify your own specific obstacles to writing in: "Why Can't I Write Even When I Want To?"

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

Facing writer’s block may feel like coming toe-to-toe with Tolkien's Balrog of Morgoth. But every baddie has a fatal flaw and writer’s block is no different — it can be defeated.

Sure, it can feel hopeless sometimes. Especially when you started off strong, writing page after page and excitedly imagining the day you’d type "the end," only to come to a grinding halt.

But there are super effective tools you can add to your arsenal to fight this foe. There are proven strategies and productivity techniques you can add to your daily routine to slay this menace and return to your story victorious.

Learn strategies and get expert advice on how to beat your block in: "How to Overcome Writer’s Block: Expert Advice & Strategies for Breaking Through."

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Writer’s block doesn’t spell the end of your journey with your latest draft. (This is just what it wants you to think.)

Like the latest plot twist wreaking havoc on the life of your weary protagonist, it’s just another hurdle to overcome.