Overcoming Writer's Block

There is nothing that gives me anxiety like hitting a bought of writer's block. It consumes my thoughts and makes me doubt myself like nothing else. After all, if I'm really meant to be a writer, shouldn't I be able to keep writing, inspired/motivated or not?

But we all experience writer's block at some point in time. Lots of things can cause it: being tired from day to day life, characters aren't talking to you, inspiration fatigue, just finished a work and don't know what to do next, etc. Plenty of reasons exist for why the creative juices might dry up.

In my case, one of the leading causes of writer's block is depression. I happen to have bipolar disorder. My mood is fairly well controlled by medication and therapy, but there are times when I still fall into a depressive episode and can't just will myself out of it. It's incredibly difficult for me to write when I'm depressed. I lack motivation to do much of anything and my mind is too numb for inspiration to strike. But not writing causes me to feel more depressed, because writing is the greatest joy in my life. It's a terrible spiral that makes me feel worse and worse until the depressive episode ends and I can write again.

In August of 2023, I completed a "final" draft of a manuscript for a novel and sent it to a beta-reader. I spent time editing it and writing a few scenes for its sequel. Then depression hit and I stopped writing. At first, I thought I wasn't writing because I'd just completed a work and wasn't ready to move on. Maybe my brain was stuck in editing mode. But time went on and I still wasn't writing. I came up with ideas for the next book, but I just couldn't get myself to write them down.

This depressive episode lasted until February 2024 - the longest major depressive episodes I've had since I started medication. I was miserable the entire time. And I didn't write a single word. I managed to journal a few times, as my therapist kept encouraging me to do, but I'd usually only get a page of "I don't know what to write" before I'd give up.

After a few medication changes that did nothing, my shrink came up with a cocktail that finally worked and I came out of the depression. It was like a weighted blanket was removed from my creativity and I was suddenly writing again. And I wrote a LOT. I've nearly finished the sequel to the novel I'm now querying with literary agents and written some key scenes for the 3rd book in the series.

It's easy to blame myself when I have writer's block. There must be something wrong with me. Unfortunately, with my troubles with my mental health, it's sometimes true that I'm the cause of my writer's block. But that doesn't make it my fault. And it doesn't mean that the writer's block won't lift if I just keep trying.

Yes, writer's block hits all of us. But I've realized something: I ALWAYS come back to writing. No matter how many times I've stepped away from my notebooks and laptop, I always come back. That's the part that matters to me. Pauses are temporary, and sometimes necessary to deal with other things going on in my life. But I know that I'll always return to writing. I just can't stay away. And I wouldn't have it any other way.