If you’ve been writing long, you’ve heard it all. You tell someone you’ve got writer’s block and they pronounce some cure.
Writers everywhere have heard it a million times. We’ve all gotten advice about ways to get unstuck
1. Make a list
2. Fill up an index card (because it’s less daunting than a page)
3. Take a break to do something else – walking is always good
4. Write from a different perspective (I personally like to write a journal entry in first person from the perspective of the narrator of my current scene to get me inside his/her head
That’s not what this post is about.
The question I’m answering for you is “Why should I bother getting unstuck?”
Here are five reasons you should want to get past your “writer’s block” during National Novel Writing Month.
1. You Want to Win
Okay, everyone wants to win, right?
I mean, we say things like, “Everyone can’t be a winner.” Or “It’s not about winning but how you played the game.”
And we might even want to believe those things.
But you signed up to write a novel in thirty days. If you write 50,000 words, the NaNoWriMo organizers will call you a winner. They’ll give you some cool prizes.
You want to win. You know it’s true.
2. You have a Story
Maybe it’s been churning inside you for years. Maybe it’s been chewing its way out bit by bit for months.
There is a story inside you. It wants to be told. You can tell it. Right now.
Better yet, no one ever has to read what you write. Sometimes the thought of anyone seeing what our soul bled onto the page terrifies us.
If that’s your hang up, bury that baby.
Seriously. No one will read the words you paste into the verification window on November 30th.
You don’t have to let anyone read what you’re writing.
But your story wants to be told. So let that puppy out.
3. It’s Professional Writing Pace
Hundreds of writers churn out a few thousand words every day of their life. We call those people professional writers.
Sure, they get paid for their work. Possibly less than you think.
The point is, if you want to “do this writing thing” for real some day, now is the time to prove to yourself you can handle it. You can sit your rear in the chair and churn out thousands of words.
4. People are watching you
Not that you have to prove anything to those naysayers. It’s none of their business if you win this challenge or not.
Who are you kidding?
It will feel glorious to wave your fist in their face and say, “I wrote a novel in November.”
You can wave the winner’s certificate NaNoWriMo provides right under those stuck-up, know-it-all noses.
It will feel delightfully wonderful to finally show them up. And shut them up. For a few days anyway.
5. You aren’t a novelist until you FINISH a novel
Do you want to be one of those people who’s going to write a novel someday?
Or would you rather be that person who can claim “I wrote a novel”?
If you finish it, you will be a novelist.
Chant it to yourself, “I can finish this.”
Now stop reading this post and get back to writing that novel.
Only you can tell that story. And typing the last sentence is more rewarding than I could ever explain.