5 Ways Authors Get Stuck (And How to Get Unstuck)

How many unfinished drafts do you have tucked away in a folder right now? Title ideas, memoir plans, half-formed concepts that haven’t made their way onto paper yet?

If you’re like me, it’s, uh… [mumbles incoherently]. Maybe a lot. But here’s the thing: This is normal. It is a beautiful, natural, wonderful byproduct of a mind that is rich and ripe and fecund. Celebrate!

But… if those unfinished ideas never turn into finished manuscripts… well. Maybe that’s a problem.

Authors are creative people, and we get stuck in many creative ways. Over my decades of working with authors, however, I’ve discovered that there are really only a few problems, showing up in various disguises, like a variety show artist intent on wowing an audience.

Here are 5 of the most common ways authors get stuck (and how to get unstuck).

1. Lack of Clarity

Lack of clarity is why we don’t begin past the idea, it’s why we don’t continue past the first few pages, and it’s why we stop midway through and never return. We get worried: Is this one book or two? Does the topic matter? What exactly do I even want to say? Am I even the right person for this?

How to get unstuck: First, start with a North Star Statement. When you’re crystal clear about why you’re writing and who you’re writing for, then you’ll understand what needs to go into the book. This becomes a golden thread throughout the writing, revising, and editing process. Second, a working outline. You don’t have to know all the details, just a general idea of what direction the content will go, and in roughly what order. Third, understand that it’s okay not to know. Just keep going. Imagine you’re on a twisting country road on a foggy night, and all you’ve got are your headlights. You can only see the bit of road right in front of you, but that’s enough. Just inch your way forward until you know where you are.

2. Overwhelm

The journey to authorship is long, winding, and gnarly. It can be easy to feel like it’s just too much, and give up. Many do.

How to get unstuck: One step at a time. You need a process and an understanding of the process, so you can see where you are and understand, in your mind and gut, that you don’t have to do it all at once. Authors in my program often, in the first few weeks, have a thousand questions: About publishing, about cover art, about how to talk about other people or cite other people’s work. I am always happy to answer them, and then I always return them to the matter at hand. “That’s it in a nutshell. We will address it in more detail at X point in the process. Right now, the only thing you have to worry about is Y–the step you’re taking right now.” Eventually, they relax into the process because they know we’ll get to all of it in good time.

3. Perfectionism

We want our work to be good. Not just good, great! And when it falls short, even temporarily, it can feel discouraging. Left unchecked, this impulse for greatness (greatness NOW not later) can cause us to quit altogether.

How to get unstuck: Know the cycle. In the wise and eternal words of Marcus Romer: “This is amazing. This is tricky. This is shit. I am shit. This might be okay. This is amazing.” You will have times when you feel like your work is really good and important. And times when you’re convinced it’s absolute garbage. Keep going anyway. Treat it as an iterative process. Get that goddamn hot mess of a shitty first draft down! Then revise it into something roughly resembling a manuscript. Then revise again. Then again. TRUST THE PROCESS–IT WORKS.

4. Loss of Confidence

This one is related to and sometimes the same as perfectionism. It’s that moment when your idea starts to seem boring, unimportant, and uninspired so… why bother?

How to get unstuck: Repeat the Marcus Romer cycle to yourself! Print it out and post it. Take a break and look up stories by famous authors discussing the messiness of their creative process. Read about imposter syndrome. Understand that the people who actually have something to say are usually the same people who aren’t quite sure if it’s worth it. It’s your very questioning nature that makes you a thinker who is worth listening to. Keep going.

5. Distraction

I need to clean my house, I need to talk to my neighbor, I need to reorganize my craft closet and complete the knitting I left there five years ago and also that bag I was sewing and oh, hey, these beads would make a really pretty necklace! Anything but face the agony and shame of my terrible horrible no good pointless draft.

How to get unstuck: Review points 1 through 4. Very often, one of these is at the root of the need to be distracted. Then, set a timer. Don’t promise yourself you’ll do the whole thing today. Don’t decide that you won’t do the things on your distractions list. Just do twenty minutes on your draft and give yourself permission to do something else after. Stop fighting your brain and forcing it into an all-or-nothing survival situation. Give it kind, gentle boundaries, and do the thing.

Bonus: The One Ring To Rule Them All–Emotional Blocks

At the root of almost every stuckness: Emotional blocks.

Somewhere below the level of consciousness, we have a thousand voices silently (and not-so-silently) screaming at us. Voices that are afraid of failure. Afraid of success. Afraid of the work. Afraid of exposure. Afraid of rejection. (Yes, almost all of them are afraid).

These voices live in our bodies and, when threatened, they throw up blocks. Blocks that look like really good ideas: Oh, I should write a different book. Oh, I should reorganize my nightstand. Oh, I should go buy a new pen.

How to get unstuck: The good news is, you don’t have to fight these blocks. You only have to listen to them. You only have to give them space to be heard. And then gently help them reorient themselves to the task at hand. Sounds hard, but it’s actually quite simple. My Root 11 technique, available to program clients, guides authors through this process and provides enormous relief and energy to continue. A self-guided version can be found in my book, Claim Your Voice.

And you? What are your favorite ways to get stuck? And how do you get yourself unstuck?

Authors in my full program have unlimited access to block-clearing support. This is one of the key reasons they, without exception, always finish their books. If you’d like to learn more, please check out the details on my site, and schedule your first consult to see if it’s the right fit for you.