Want to Break Through Writer's Block?

"Writing is supposed to be an empathic exercise, not an intellectual exercise." - Sam Horn

Did you know Sting had writer's block for?eight?years?!

What did Sting do to break through that block???He returned to his hometown near the shipyards of Newcastle where he grew up watching “great iron ships grow until they blotted out the sun" and let the “shipwrights, welders and riveters speak to him and through him.”

As a result, Sting’s creativity came alive again, He was inspired to write a?new musical entitled The Last Ship?based on the stories he heard. It opened on Broadway in 2014 and received a Tony nomination in 2015 for Best Original Score.

Sting’s experience offers a lesson for anyone who has ever experienced a time when your creativity comes to a screeching halt and the words won't come.

Chances are you're not lacking?creativity; you're lacking?connection.

Perhaps you too need to get out of your head and into the community to re-connect with the readers you want to reach. Perhaps it’s time?to stop thinking "What can I say?" and start asking, "What does my intended audience want/need to hear?"?

When you put yourself in the mind of your audience, the words will start to flow because you’re tapping into the secret sauce of creativity -?empathy not intellect.?

I had my own mini-version of "Words Won't Come Syndrome" while rushing to meet a deadline for my?Tongue Fu!? at School book.??

I usually love to write. But I was busy raising two sons with a full calendar of speaking and consulting. Writing had become hard work. I would re-read what I’d written (I know, a fatal error) and think “Yuck.” I didn’t like what I was producing. It didn’t sing. It wasn’t alive.

A blessing came in the form of an article in USA Today about the TV writer/director David E. Kelley. For a while Kelley could do no wrong. He was the first to receive an Emmy for Best Comedy?(Ally McBeal) and?Best Drama (The Practice) in the same year.

But his shows had started slipping in the ratings as they were featuring bizarre plots viewers couldn’t relate to. The reporter suggested Kelley had lost his?golden?touch because he’d lost the?common?touch.?He said, "He's married to Michelle Pfeiffer, lives in a 15 million dollar home, directs all day, and writes all night. He's become disconnected."

My mental light bulb went off. No wonder I was blocked. I was committing the fatal flaw of flow. Writing had become an intellectual exercise instead of an empathic exercise.

I was focusing on what?I?wanted to say instead of connecting with my intended readers and communicating what they wanted and needed to hear.

I got up, drove to my sons’ high school and crowd-sourced my content. I asked students, “What do you do if someone is bullying you?” I asked teachers, “What do you do if parents accuse you of not caring for their kid?”?I asked the principal, “What do you say when a teacher tells you, ‘I quit.?I don’t get paid enough to deal with this?’”

Like Sting, I let the people I wanted to reach talk?to?me and?through?me. I listened to their cares and concerns - their worries, wants and wishes - and wrote them all down.

And when I got home, the words flowed out so fast my fingers could hardly keep up.?

I'll always be grateful for that lesson. Anytime I'm blocked, it's time to get out of my head and into the heads of my readers.

How about you??Are you blocked? Have the ideas come to a screeching halt?

Do you read your content - whether it's for a website, marketing campaign, blog or book - and it's blah-blah-blah? Are you grinding it out because you have a deadline to meet?

If your intent is simply to finish, you can accomplish that, but your work won't sing.?It will be dry, lifeless, dead on the page.

If your want your work to be alive, get up out of your chair and into the field.??

And yes, you can do this virtually with phone calls, online surveys, Zoom meetings.

Reach out to who you want to connect with.

Ask what keeps them up at night, what they worry about, what they wish for, what they can't figure out, what they want for their future - and then come back, sit back down to your laptop or notebook, and let their voices pour out of your mind and onto the page.

You will have tapped back into the only enduring source of creativity ... connection.

And you, your work, and your readers, will all be better for it.

30 Quotes to Break Through Writers Block

1."There's a trick I'm going to share with you.?I learned it almost twenty years ago and I've never forgotten it, so pay attention.?Don't begin at the beginning." - Lawrence Block

2."Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you show up and do the right thing, the dawn will come.?You wait, watch, work and write; you don't give up." - Anne Lamott

3. "If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison

4. “If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.” – Rollo May?

5. "Planning to write is not writing.?Writing is writing." - E. L. Doctorow

6. "Writing for me is simply thinking through my fingers." - Isaac Asimov?

7. "Almost everything will work better if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you." - Anne Lamott

8. "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." - Pablo Picasso

9. "Think left, think right, think low, think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try." - Dr. Seuss

10. "Don't you know yet? It is your light that lights the world." - Rumi

11. When asked the secret to finishing his 600 page magnum opus The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay said two words, "Bum glue!"

12. "Creativity is always a leap of faith. You're faced with a blank page, blank easel, or an empty stage, and you need to jump into it." - Julia Cameron

13.?"I think writers are too worried it's all been said before. Sure it has, but not by you." - Asha Dornfest?

14. “If my doctor told me I had only 6 months to live, I’d type a little faster.” – Isaac Asimov

15. “Inspiration usually comes during work, not before it.” – Madeleine L’ Engle

16. “I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at 9 a.m. every morning.” – Peter DeVries

17. "If you are struggling with self-doubt, you're thinking like an amateur. Amateurs don't show up. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, does his work, keeps on trucking, no matter what." - Steven Pressfield

18. “I made a startling discovery. Time spent writing = output of work. Amazing.” – Ann Patchett

19. “Ever tried and failed? No matter. Try again and fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

20. "It take an awful lot of time to NOT write a book." - Douglas Adams

21.“If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me? You are a human being with a unique story to tell. You have every right.” – Richard Rhodes

22. "Writing a book is like driving a car at night; you can only see to the end of your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." - E.L. Doctorow

23. "If you want to be certain, you should never attempt anything creative. In fact, you might as well just stay home. Because I don't know anybody who is certain. That need to be certain is just procrastination." - Mark Burnett

24. “You can sit there, tense and worried, freezing the creative energies, or you can start writing?something. It doesn't matter what. In five or ten minutes, the imagination will heat, the tightness will fade, and a certain spirit and rhythm will take over.” – Leonard Bernstein

25. “I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged. I had pieces that were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.” – Erica Jong

26. “Once you’ve done the mental work, there comes a point you have to throw yourself into action and put your heart on the line.” – Lakers basketball coach Phil Jackson

27. “The faster I write, the better my output. If I’m going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.” – Raymond Chandler

28. “I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind has to know it has to get down to work.” – Pearl S. Buck

29.?"I think the worst, most insidious procrastination for me is research. I will look for some fact to include in the novel, and before I know, I've wasted an entire morning delving into that subject matter without a word written." - James Rollins

30. "One day you're going to wake up and there won't be any time left to do the things you've always wanted to do." - Paulo Coelho

Remember, stories, lessons-learned and books in your head help no one.

What you create today may not sing, but you did your half and did the work.

If you continue to write - no matter what - the muse will show up and do its half, and the two of you can finish a quality project and get it out in the world.

Robert Frost said, "No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader."

If you want readers to care, you've got to care.

The key to breaking through writers block is to love writing - even when it's hard - and to connect with your readers so your writing becomes a gift to them instead of a grind for you.

Write on!

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Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency, was Executive Director of the world-renowned Maui Writers Conference for 17 years. She has written 9 books from major publishers which have been featured in Publishers Weekly, NY Times, Fast Company and on NPR. She has helped hundreds of clients get quality books out of their head and into the world.