Beating writer's block isn't about writing better. It's about living with bad writing.
Don't let perfectionism be an excuse for why you're not putting words on paper - and Ernest Hemingway agrees.
Writer's block is as certain as death and taxes. It's the same with any creative pursuit, whether it's painting or design or composing. Breaking down what these all stem from can help you overcome the classic artists' obstacle.
I've spoke to countless writers and journalists who claim to feel the weight of writer's block. After some investigating, it turns out that usually it has nothing to do with a lack of things to say. Creatives are creatives because they overflow with ideas.
People with writer's block don't have a problem putting words on paper. No — they just can't stand living with bad writing.
“The first draft of anything is shit,” Ernest Hemingway said, according to Arnold Samuelson’s memoir, With Hemingway: A Year in Key West in Cuba.
Writers are often hesitant to put half-baked ideas on paper because it can feel like admitting to imperfection. Incomplete or sloppy writing, the thinking goes, exposes you as an incomplete or sloppy writer.
But to get to good ideas, you have to slog through many, many bad ones first.
Sure, that self-doubt is warranted because new ideas usually suck to begin with. But if you don't get them on paper, they won't have time to develop into anything smarter than those first inklings.
Perfectionism is a common excuse creatives use to procrastinate or refrain from starting a project, but it's a weak explanation because no ideas worth sharing are ever borne out of an unimpeachable beginning.
While it's nothing genius, the best way to beat writer's block is to sit down and write — while keeping in mind that the writing will be junk. The faucet must be turned on to get to the water. Grasping this was how I wrote two bestselling books.
Remember, you can point out shortfalls in even the best writing that's gone through years of work and editing. Expecting a higher bar than that for yourself when you're working on something new is unrealistic, and it's an excuse to procrastinate.
If you overcome and embrace your own bad writing, you have the freedom to string together more words than ever. The writing process is meant to be painful, slow, and imperfect, but every word you jot down is a step forward.
When Hemingway's protégé, Samuelson, asked him how a writer can know if they're good at writing, here's what the literary great said:
You can’t. Sometimes you can go on writing for years before it shows. If a man’s got it in him, it will come out sometime. The only thing I can advise you is to keep on writing but it’s a damned tough racket. The only reason I make any money at it is I’m a sort of literary pirate. Out of every ten stories I write, only one is any good and I throw the other nine away.
Complement this article with how to supercharge your focus, and the story of how I wrote a bestseller in a year while working as a full-time journalist.
