How to keep going when you hit a hump with your writing

Illustration copyright Matt Clare at Mono Design

I have to tell you something about myself. While I probably err on the side of the half-empty glass in many areas of life, when it came to writing a book, I saw a cup not only half full, but overflowing.

I blame copywriting. After being a copywriter for a decade, I have become pretty good at a quick turnaround on my words. I figured writing a book would be like writing 1000 words multiplied by 80. Easy peasey.

But oh, ho, ho, how wrong I was. I have read that it is unseemly to complain about how hard writing a book is. But IT WAS REALLY HARD. There. I’ve done it. You are free to call me unseemly, or a whinger, or an unseemly whinger. Whatevs.

Since I am now already labelled, let me wallow a bit more. For a start, having never written a book before, I didn’t expect it to be so complicated. It might seem apparent to everyone else in the universe, but it wasn’t until I started this process that I realised a book is not just a Frankenstein collection of disparate thousand word sections – at least not the kind of book I wanted to write – it is a living, breathing beast that has to work as a whole. Before I found scrivener, I nearly drove myself RED RUM crazy trying to devise ways of keep up with the flow of the story. (If you are struggling with this, scrivener http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php is seriously awesome. And no, I am not paid to say that).

But still, scrivener wasn’t everything I needed to hold the book together. I had to understand how a book worked before I could feel like I actually knew how to write one. I read obsessively on scene and structure, plot, character development, style and voice. I listened to hundreds of hours of podcasts on writing techniques as well as author interviews. Though I also read fiction, I couldn’t switch off. While occasionally getting pulled into the world of a book, more often than not I analysed the writing, took apart the structure and tracked the character arc. (Did I mention I trained as a biochemist and am prone to obsessive, scientific analysis when I feel out of my depth?)

So, why am I telling you this and how does it help you to get over your hump? On reflection, I think my panic at not knowing what the hell I was doing was actually a good thing for keeping my inspiration going and helping me avoid writers block.

Writing a book requires a step-up of energy that can be hard to muster, especially if you are also working a day job and/ or looking after kids. To make this new energy, you have to feed your creative fire.

I am not suggesting everyone go to crazy town in  exactly the same way I did, but if you are sitting in front of an empty screen feeling defeated, it is easy to let the voices creep in, the ones that tell you you aren’t any good. Those voices drain your energy and make your creative self want to curl up in a ball. It is hard to keep your fingers on the keyboard when you are hunched over in foetal position.

Even if you don’t let those voices win, and remain diligently locked in a battle with the empty page, there is no guarantee the muse is going to turn up. Sometimes, when you feel stuck, or low on motivation, filling your head with techniques and ideas from people who have walked the path ahead of you can be a great way to keep your juices flowing and the ideas coming.

It might not work for everyone, but if you are feeling down in the dumps about your draft, why not try hunting for inspiration? Pick up a book on writing, read a publisher’s blog, find a new podcast, get lost in a book by an author you love. The worst thing that could happen is you learn something; the best might be that you  finish your book.