You know that feeling when you just can’t be bothered? You
stare at your laptop and you sigh.
You’re a third of the way into NaNoWriMo, several thousand words behind,
and your novel is starting to feel like work. Your mind drifts off in search of
new ideas or looking for some excuse not to write anything today. Don’t give in.
Not now. Even Productive Procrastination will do you no favours during
NaNoWriMo. Your goal is to generate a messy first draft and no form of
procrastination is going to get the words on the page.
Be wary of calling this feeling ‘Writer’s Block’. Writer’s
Block is not some magical affliction that strikes down promising young novelists. It's an excuse. It’s just easier to say ‘I have Writer's Block’ than
it is to admit, even to yourself, that you don’t care enough about your writing to stay dedicated.
And all fiction writers should be able to agree that the easy
option is rarely the right one. You wouldn’t let your characters give up, would
you? They persevere through the hard times – if they didn’t, you wouldn’t have
much of a story to tell. So, if you won’t let them get away with it, why should
you? You want to finish your story, don’t you? If so, the answer is simple,
stop believing in the curse of Writer’s Block and accept that your disinterest
in the story is probably something you can solve.
So what can you do?
There are a few tricks we can use to get ourselves out of these
slumps.
