Writing a book seems to be all the rage right now, doesn’t it?
With the rise of amazon kdp (Kindle direct publishing), being able to publish at the press of a button makes it seem like everyone’s hopping on the bandwagon and realising their dream to become an author.
But what happens if you’ve got writer’s block?
How do you get past it and become an author?
Never fear, I’m here to help you do just that with 3 ways I work with my authors to get unblocked and get writing.
Before we get started, I should let you know that I work with nonfiction writers for the most part, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the tips that follow to get yourself unblocked if you’re writing in another genre. If they help you to get unblocked and start writing, then that’s a win!
You can adapt these tips however you like, there is no one right way to do this! Let’s get started.
1. Find your WHY
Before you start to try anything else to deal with your writer’s block, try this: find (or remember!) your WHY.
Why are you writing a book in the first place?
Knowing why you’re doing something is really powerful. Usually, for the authors I work with, it brings them back to a sense of purpose. This takes the focus off themselves, and puts it back on to being of service to their reader, which makes all the difference to whether they feel they can write or not. It goes from being a self-focussed activity, to being a reader-focussed activity.
Your ‘why’ can fall under different categories:
- To teach or communicate your knowledge
- To write down what you’ve experienced so others can learn
- To help people, as a healer or coach (or it’s just what you do), or
- To get the word out about something you care about
Just know that whatever your ‘why’ is, keeping it in mind is instrumental in helping you stay focussed and unblocked as a writer.
2. Connect to your book
One technique that I’ve found super useful when working with clients is to help them make space for their book in their busy lives.
Most people when they come to work with me tell me that they feel like their book is hanging over them, or weighing them down. They all tend to also wave their hands in the air above their heads as they say this too.
Connecting to your inspiration – your book – is one way to reignite your creativity and writing. I lead my clients in a visualisation to connect to their book and see a broad vision of the possibilities open to you once it’s published. Seeing the help or the impact your book will have once it’s ‘out there’ in the world can be a great catalyst to start writing again.
To do this yourself you can try the steps below:
- Get quiet, and take a few breaths to find the place of calm inside your mind
- Take a moment to connect to your book. You might see it as an image in your mind, or get a sense of a feeling or colour. However it happens is fine
- When you’re connected to your book, as what it’s vision is for itself, then just let whatever images, impressions, etc happen. Listen and watch.
- When you’ve finished, bring yourself back to your reality and take some conscious breaths or stretch.
- You may wish to make some notes on what you experienced, so you can easily refer to them if you get stuck again.
3. Define your reader
If you’ve gotten stuck, it could be because you’ve not yet defined your reader.
It’s important to know who your reader is and write to them, because otherwise your book will seem generic and won’t speak to anyone. It makes writing easier and evens out your tone when you know who you’re writing to.
Usually when a writer hasn’t defined their reader, they find it difficult to connect their words to a sense of purpose or inspiration.
How do you define your reader? Here are some tips:
- Make sure you’re specific. Don’t just say a broad category like, “My reader’s a mum.” Make sure you’re narrowing that broad category further so you can write to your specific reader. For example, it might be, “Mums who are concerned about the environment, and who want to make changes to their home and families to support a sustainable lifestyle.”
- Make sure you’re not too specific. I know. I just told you to be specific. But the opposite is also true. You don’t want to niche down so far that there’s just a couple of people who will be the audience for your book. The trick is to be specific enough that someone can recognise themselves without being so specific that they then rule themselves out.
- Create an actual reader avatar – your ideal reader – and include as much detail about them as you can. This isn’t contradictory advice. Over and over with the writers I work with, when we create an actual person to write to, the writing is easier. Try it and see!
If you’ve been stuck when writing your book then I hope that these three tips help you get back on track.
For more help writing your book, join my mailing list HERE. I send weekly newsletters with tips, ideas, discussion etc on how we engage with the craft of writing and the many ways we trip ourselves up. I’d love to help you.
Well I learned something from the first couple of lines. KDP!! Loving the blog commitment. Might have to hop on the bandwagon.