Lose Your Religion

Avoiding writer's superstitions

Lore about well-known writers is rich with idiosyncrasies and superstitions. Think of Fitzgerald drunk at his typewriter, Truman Capote writing only while lying down, Dr Seuss donning one of his 300 hats to overcome writer’s block, or Kerouac jacked up on benzedrine and hammering away on his continuous paper scroll.

I know writers who claim they can only write longhand, pen on paper. Others can only write in the wee hours after midnight¹. Some need to be in a creative “mood.” Almost all confess to some version of writer’s block.

Evocative as these myths (or truths) may be, I’ve always resisted any idea that I require a particular set of circumstances to be able to write. Frankly, because I still need to work a full-time job and thus have to fit in my writing time around my work schedule, I just don’t have the luxury to put any other requirements on my process. When I get (or make) some free time to write, I need to be able to sit down and get to work.

I can’t permit myself the luxury of having writer’s block.

That said, there are some techniques I use to improve my productivity when I write.

For example, I like to get out of my house to write, which is a way of getting away from distractions (and attractions). Coffee shop, public library, park bench, quiet corner of a pub on a weekday afternoon, as long as it’s away from home I find it more conducive to writing. I usually pop in my earbuds and turn on some music, but it has to be instrumental music: I find vocal music too distracting when I’m writing.

Here’s a Spotify playlist that I frequently play on shuffle when I’m writing. It might not be your jam — I made the playlist and sometimes even I have to skip a song that comes up — in which case I’d love for you to drop a comment about what does serve you well musically while you write.

I always have something ready to write. With my novel, I have an outline of the action, so I can sit down, open my document, and quickly pick a scene to work on. No thinking required. I also keep a document full of writing prompts — just a list of short phrases — for moments when I want to work on something other than the novel. Those are great for starting something that might turn into a story or a poem.

The best tool I ever employed for avoiding writer’s block is to avoid editing. When I write, I just write. I let the words flow, uninterrupted by my critical mind. Revisions, editing, proofreading, fact-checking — all that stuff comes later.

I suspect these same techniques are directly or peripherally applicable to other artistic pursuits, as well. I’d love to hear what you think. When you create, what works for you?

1. I only recently realized that wee hours are “wee” because they’re small numbers — 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock…. I love that I can still make language discoveries like this.