Writer’s Block

Is there anything worse? (Well, yes, plenty of things are worse…but writer’s block is pretty bad.)

I often hear people define writer’s block as not being able to come up with any ideas. But I find that I’m not actually bereft of ideas…it’s just that my critical, editor’s brain swoops in each time and declares each idea unworthy, dull, impossible, or idiotic before I can even get it down on paper.

What to do? Mostly, trust that unworthy, dull, impossible, and idiotic first drafts often turn out to be reasonably decent second drafts. Set a number of pages I need to finish before I can quit for the day, no matter how bad they are. And remember that I’m not trying to out-Shakespeare Shakespeare….I’m just trying to get to the end of the story I’m attempting to tell.

(It has witches, familiars, and poetry in it. I’m hoping it’s nowhere near as idiotic as it feels right now.)