Overcoming Writers Block

My Tips

I've been struggling with writers block while writing these contemporary middle grade novels. I was starting to think that maybe I'm just not a very good middle grade writer. That may well be the case, but with my experience I think maybe not as awful as I was thinking.

The problem is, I haven't been giving myself breaks when I needed them.

Having two wonderful children, I've been trying to squeeze in as much writing as I can when they're asleep or otherwise distracted. This means I can't write when the muse inspires me but when I have the time. That's fine, but I was putting pressure on myself to write as much as I could in the little time that I had. This meant that what I was writing wasn't always of good quality and I didn't like it when it was all done.

What I've started to do, when I feel the writer's block descending, is to stop writing. I've started doing something else, reading more again and simply distracting my mind.

I have found that when I'm not forcing myself to write, what I do write is of better quality and makes more sense. Mainly it comes when I'm relaxed and chilling out and what I produce in that time is much better than what I'm forcing myself to write.

This has helped me in other areas of my writing as well. I have rewritten one scene in my current work in progress three times because instead of being a tense scene where my protags are in danger, it becomes a sinister scene for completely different reasons and that's not the tone of the book. Normally, this would really dishearten me and I'd be wondering why I can't get this scene or character right. Instead, now I'm giving myself a bit of a break, having a think about it and coming back to it afresh and with different ideas.

So my tip, when writer's block descends is to take a step back, have a break and think about anything else.

I hope that helps!