7 Tips to combat writer's block from 10 amazing names in romance

If you find yourself alone with a pen and a piece of paper, chances are you know what writer’s block feels like. A Writer`s I don`t feel like writing, this doesn’t feel right, or there are no words left in me. Name it whatever you want, you’ve had it!

…And so have I! The majority of writers have a very good sense of that frustration that rushes through you when the chapter just doesn’t feel right.

It sucks to not be able to put your vision into words. Monica James, the International bestselling author, queen mother of dark and twisty and my mother in law (me and her youngest fictional son, Bull, have an on again off again relationship, don’t ask. *eye roll*) put some perspective of things when she said that “I Just live vigorously through my bad boys.”.

Writing can be a hobby, it can be a career but for most of us, it’s a way of exploring. So what do we do when that door seems to close in our faces?

The last time I had Writer’s Block it was vicious. I was so drained that it made me believe maybe it was time to put the notepad to rest. In my case, bad habits were my undoing. I’ve been writing research articles and papers for a number of years now and in factual writing there’s a very different work process. In non-fiction you don’t get blockages, you just have to revisit your sources, restructure your paragraph, and push through. I can tell you right now that this strategy didn’t work. My saving grace was a piece of advice coming for a friend who told me: Step away, take your time, and breathe.

Taking time off from writing my story and not paying any attention to it for a while was the best thing I ever did during the creative process. It’s a mechanism that served me well and gave me fresh eyes to spot my mistakes and acknowledge my strong points. I was helped to find this new angle to work from but Elle Kennedy pointed out something that is highly important when talking on this subject: “Writer’s block is one of those things that affects everyone differently”.

I put in place a list of tips and advice for you to find your system of overcoming a Block or improving your writing technique overall, with the help of my “guest speakers”, a number of incredibly talented authors that blew our minds with their work on more than one occasion.

1. Take time off and make dinner - Your chef tonight, Elle Kennedy.

I mentioned earlier the brilliant Elle Kennedy, a woman that built a career as an erotic contemporary romance novelist with over forty titles under her belt with New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journals' bestselling recognitions. I sat with her recently at a virtual cup of coffee and talked on the margin of this subject. For Elle the thing that works best is taking her focus elsewhere for a while, take a breather, a moment to regroup and once she’s elbows deep – or better said, mind deep – in a task, that’s when inspiration hits. “One minute I’ll be staring into my fridge trying to figure out what to make for dinner, the next the problem with my plot point has worked itself out and I order delivery and return to my WIP”. Take time off might be the new lead you’re looking for, plus you get to ditch cooking and get yourself some well-deserved take out, so here’s your bonus.

2. Creativity comes from creation – In the Beautiful World of A.L. Jackson

We, as both authors and readers, develop our activity in the creative field. There are seven crafts in this category, La Belle Arts, The Beautiful Arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, visual arts, dance, music, and the art of the word, literature. It goes without saying that they are all related; there’s a strong connection between all of the mentioned but music and writing go hand in hand, just like peanut butter and jelly. And so thinks A.L. Jackson. Yes, the same A.L. Jackson that also can be found on the bestselling lists of New York Times and USA Today, the one that enchanted us with her “heart-filled stories” and “boys who usually like to be a little bit bad”. She’s advising you to “Find music that inspires you and set the tone you’re looking for. Turn everything off and close your eyes…”. I think we all found ourselves in a situation where the music took over our body and minds so listen to what this simply amazing woman is telling you. Just build that playlist, hit the shuffle button, and let the music take you to that place where your story dances along with the song.

3. Just Keep on Swimming…Sorry, Writing! With Tia and Mia!

Once your music is up and running and the take out is served it’s time to find yourself in front of the computer. Tia Louise is a former teacher, book and magazine editor, journalist, and now bestselling and award-winning romance author. She gave us the sweet smell of a peach orchard in a summer night through her LaGrange duet and now was kind enough to give this very, very precious piece of guidance: “Keep writing. Even if it’s just a little a day, do something until the flow comes back. Write whatever scene feels strong and remember everything can be fixed in revision.”.

This is a very strong point because losing consistency can be very damaging. To this point of view subscribes Mia Sheridan.

Leo’s Chance, Archer’s Voice, More Than Words, you love them all. Mia is first a remarkable woman that gets her inspiration for writing from the purest and love-filled place there is, a mother’s heart. Secondly, she is an Indie author that broke every limit there is to break in the publishing game. I asked her the same question, “What advice you have for someone who’s suffering from writer’s block?”. Talking to her about this was like every conversation with Mia, full of warmth and good intentions. Take a moment to reflect on her words: “My advice would be to tell yourself there’s no such thing as Writer’s Block. Whatever you want to write or not, sit down and do it. The words might suck, the inspiration may be lacking but you can’t edit an empty page. WRITE, regardless.” …and she added a little red heart at the end sharing her love with all of us.

4. Your most powerful tool is you! – Dog mother, storyteller, wander woman. J.D. Fondry.

My conversation with the Lovely J. D Fondry was interesting and by the end of it we discovered that we both have a twisted imagination. J. D broke the Amazon sells becoming an A-lister very fast, and we all know why…because everything she writes is A-list material. Looking through her Goodreads account I got across a fan question addressed to miss Fondry ~what’s the best thing about being a writer to which she replied the following~: “ I think the best part is being able to turn my daydreaming into a fun, new world that I get to share with other people.” I have to agree with her on that.

Daydreaming can be your most useful tool when you create a story. It’s not foolish, it’s not childish, it’s a process that can turn into something unstoppable. J.D. also associates her writing process with tons of good music and a physical pause from writing, but her mind is working non-stop: “ Basically, when I hit a lull, or I'm finding that I'm missing chunks here and there that could really benefit the story but I'm not gaining any traction on it, I like to step away. I listen to music (as I always seem to be getting more each day) and imagine scenarios or scenes in my head that are almost like a music video! I plug my characters into the song and just close my eyes and daydream. It sounds silly, but it works. These little music videos really prompt more material and can even branch off into an entirely different direction I wasn’t anticipating before. Sometimes the lyrics can spark ideas or a "wow, that's worked so beautifully, what if I changed 'blank' to 'blank' and had *insert character’s name* say that, but with a twist? It can really take off and get me motivated.”

This kind of approach is called being a maladaptive daydreamer, and it’s awesome! Don’t be afraid to open your mind’s eyes and to use your inner self. Imagine a music video, do a dance, play your characters yourself if you have to. Be as free and glowing as J. D. Fondry and things will work out for you.

5. Upside Down! Meet Winters Willow and Quinn Meghan.

Willow Winters and Meghan Quinn - if they’re not on your shelves, you’re doing something wrong. Let’s see what these two have in common: Willow is the mother of two, dedicating herself to the kids during the day and crafting her book universe during the night; so is Meghan, she and her wife, Stephanie, raise their two beautiful babies and she somehow manages to maintain the best word flow I’ve ever seen. Am I missing something? Oh, yeah, the USA Today bestselling accomplishments they share.

I had the pleasure to chat with both about Writer’s Block and I can just hope they are as helpful to you as they were to me.

Willow started the discussion mentioning something that I believe really hits a spot. She talked to me about the origin of the writer’s block that she identifies in doubt and fear. One of the things we do as writers, composers, or creators in general, we compare and think that maybe our work won’t be good enough. This is one of the main factors that will clough your creativity. On this, Willow said to us: “The one thing that I do when I hit writer’s block is focusing on what I want to read and if you’re writing for yourself everything becomes much easier.”

It’s as simple as that! A couple of months ago a pop-up commercial scared the living soul out of me when Dan Brown screamed from my laptop: WRITE LIKE NOBODY’S WATCHING! BECAUSE NOBODY IS! – So do as Willow said, write for you: write the book you’d want to buy.

Sometimes a block would hit her in the middle of writing and she just can’t seem to finish writing a scene: “ I just continue to write and if I can’t write that particular scene I will skip ahead and write another scene or something that wasn’t planned that’s just the characters interacting. Or I’ll go to the end of the chapter if I know how I want to end (…) and I will write it paragraph by paragraph backward, from the end of the chapter until I hit that scene. Typically, at that point, I know what it needs to happen and I have more of a grasp on it and more confidence.”

Write it backward! I find this an intriguing piece of advice and once I sat and reflected about it, it makes sense. Once you know what’s happening there is not much reason to have a block in writing how it is happening.

Meghan is sharing this backward approach. When I asked her about what trick she uses to overcome a blockage she told me that the best way for her is to take a walk, clear her head, and power through. Skip the part that troubles you and move to the next, to the one your heart really wants to write. She also mentioned a comment should be attached to the section in cause: THIS IS CRAP, FIX IT!

After that I really want Meghan to be my life coach and leave post-its all over me to fix things up!

6. Stop Working on What You Think You Need to Write and Start Writing What You Want – starring K. Webster.

A year or so ago I came across the book El Malo. Since then I've come to the performance of being able to recite it by heart. Yes, I read it until I learned it, it’s that good. This bad boy is the brainchild of one of my favorite people, romance, suspense, and thriller bestselling author, with books translated in multiple languages and adapted into audiobooks, K. Webster.

K. is a delight to talk to and her approach to writer’s block is a very personal one. She stops the process and starts searching for what she truly wants to write: “I overcome writer’s block by digging deep and finding out what I TRULY want to write, not what I should write. Often, our biggest block is ourselves. So even though I have things on my mental calendar that need writing, they aren’t always the stories that want to be written. So I figure out what I WANT to write, and dig in. Sometimes, just letting myself do what I want knocks over the blocking hurdle and I power forward. Any time I have allowed myself this freedom, the book turns out great and one of my bestsellers. I think our hearts and minds (deep down) know what we want to do and it’ll be way more awesome to just do it rather than forcing something just because it’s next in line. It’s also why I write such a variety. I get in the mood to write something different and allow myself to go after it.”

7. Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader – The Wise Words of Logan Chance

Known as a top twenty Amazon bestselling author, USA Today bestselling author and the man with the hot, bearded logo, Logan Chance is a rare find among us. A man killing it at writing the most savory contemporary romance books. He gravitates towards comedy but always with a pinch of heart-throbbing moments, or how he likes to call his works, Dramadies.

Talking to Logan felt like an epiphany, it taught me that sometimes the answer is not that deeply buried secret that you have to discover. Sometimes the best thing is to get back to basics. At the end of our conversation he told me “Sorry, I wish I had better tips and tricks,” but I find his advice to be very constructive. And this is what he said: “Well, usually I read. I read a good book and it inspires me to get back into it. Once I had writer's block so bad and an impending deadline, so I changed my environment and went to Starbucks every day to write instead.”

Read, read, and read. The only way to learn and to unleash your passion for writing is to look into others' work. Find what inspires you, what you like and don’t like, and then make it your own. Being inspired by creation is beautiful.

For me, working in coffee shops also works. I’m with Logan on this one, Starbucks for the win!

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