Writer's Block: How I Broke Through

Joan Naper

How excited I was when we first got the news about the COVID lockdown in 2020. I had just gotten home from a once-in-a-lifetime adventure exploring Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, sailing on a small ship and snorkeling in the Pacific. What a bonanza COVID was for an introvert! All that time to read books—no structure, no deadlines, no classes, no responsibilities, no interactions with others. Every day a blank slate with all those hours to write.

Writer's Block Takes Hold

I couldn't write. I had been working on a sequel to my novel, Beautiful Dreamer, since about 2010, draft after draft, putting in characters, taking out characters, changing the timeline, changing the point of view, listening to input in workshops and critique groups. I was on draft six when the blank page of the pandemic hit. 

In the past, I was most disciplined when I wrote at the library, any library. But all the libraries were closed. I had to learn to write at home. I sat at my desk. I moved to the dining room table. Some prolific writers wrote in bed, maybe I should try that. No luck. My muse only seemed to visit when I wrote in the library. Or, at least, that's what I told myself. There didn't seem to be a geographical cure.

Maybe the answer was in a book. I had lots of books at home and access to many more through the internet. On Writer's Block: A New Approach to Creativity, by Victoria Nelson, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, and many others. All interesting books to read but, for me, impossible to act on.

Then OCWW launched its workshops on Zoom thanks to a hardworking group of volunteers who used technology to bring the speakers to members on their computer screens. I signed up for the Zoom sessions. On Thursday mornings, I sat in front of my computer for a while and watched presenters as they struggled with the new technology. I struggled with staying in my seat and participating. But why not have another cup of coffee? Why not check on my laundry? Why not work on the Thursday New York Times crossword puzzle, one of the most challenging of the week? I could resist anything but the temptation of not paying attention. I hate Zoom.

Writer's Block: Is It time to give up?

I told myself I could retire from being a writer just as I had retired from my day job. Maybe I was too old to write. Maybe because I had never written a best-selling novel, I shouldn't even try. Maybe I shouldn't be a writer despite it being a lifelong dream that I had devoted countless hours to over the years. Like it or not, it was a central part of my identity. I felt lazy, ashamed, and guilty. Why didn't I take advantage of all the free time the epidemic had given me?

Once we were released from lockdown and normal life resumed, I took up watercolor painting. I loved the freedom from expectations, from having to think about and judge what I was doing. I might never think of myself as an artist, but I enjoyed making art. My watercolor teacher read to us from The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron at the beginning of class. Both my teacher and Cameron espoused creativity as a way of life.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the pandemic ended in May of 2023. The vaccines were readily available. People were still getting sick with COVID, but usually not as sick as before. The virus was no longer an emergency, but we were urged to still take precautions. I came down with COVID in the fall of that year after a trip to New York, but for me it was like a bad cold. I still couldn't write. Or, at least, I didn't write. I continued my watercolor classes.

Writer's Block: Moving Forward 

A year later, after the so-called end of COVID in the fall of 2024, things changed for me. I returned to OCWW in person. I took notes and paid attention. I enjoyed seeing everyone. I lamented my writer's block to a friend, and she said, "Let me read your book." She did and came back earlier than either of us expected and said, "I loved it." She also shared some constructive notes that helped me jump back into revising my novel.

Then I took an artist's date, an activity that Cameron promotes in The Artist's Way, "a block of time especially set aside to nurture your inner artist." Without consciously deciding to do this, my time away from worrying about things helped me come up with a topic for another book, one that I'm having fun researching.

There are many definitions of writer's block and many ways to unblock as an artist and writer. Some of the books I read said it was based on fear, others said it was a sign of loss of confidence. What worked for me might not work for you. But take heart, you're not the only one who has suffered from writer’s block. Remember the changing of the seasons. Spring can't burst forth with leaves and flowers without the cold of winter. And I wasn't able to blossom and flourish until a writer friend said to me, "I loved it!"

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JOAN NAPER has been a member of OCWW and a volunteer for the organization since her retirement in 2015. Previously a speechwriter for the American Medical Association, she was director of research communications at Northwestern University when she retired. Her first novel, Beautiful Dreamer, was published in 2010.

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