George Saunders on getting past self-critical/low-energy writing spirals (aka one of the many forms of writer’s block):
Another thing I sometimes suggest is this: stop writing. That is, stop doing your “real” writing. Yank yourself out of your usual daily routine. Instead, today, off the top of your head, write one sentence. Don’t think about what it should be about, or any of that. Just slap some crazy stuff down on the page. (Or it can be sane stuff. The “slapping down” is the key.) Print it out. Then, go do something else and, over the next 24 hours, do your best not to give that sentence a single thought.
The complete method, in my own words:
- Start with a sentence, nothing in particular. Just start.
- Return to that sentence daily, making additions or changes that feel right.
- As the thing grows from a sentence to a paragraph and so on, spend more time with it. But don’t sweat the magnitude of the output. A trivial punctuation change is “a good day’s work”.
- Get bolder in the changes. Do what you prefer and don’t worry about why it is you gravitate towards that particular change.
- Resist the urge to switch from working on an exercise to working your routine/process. Keep growing it instinctively.
- Eventually you have a whole story/essay/whatever written this way and you’re happy to do something with it.
- Now you are un-stuck.
(Am I using this post to get past a lull in publishing? Yes.)
