In your opinion, is ‘writer’s block’ real, or is it just procrastination in a fancy hat? 

Writers seem to have varied opinions regarding ‘writer’s block’ as being real or imagined. For me it’s a thing and I’ve experienced writer’s block at various stages of my journey. It can often be easier to apply to seemingly unpleasant pragmatic real-world tick list tasks like taking out the garbage, completing a tax return etc. for a satisfying little surge of dopamine – versus dedicating time and energy to the unknown, without any guarantee of material or neurochemical reward!

Writer’s block is not always about being empty and having nothing to say. Frequently it can be about having too much to say and feeling overwhelmed about being somehow far behind and/or locating where to even start. It’s also possible to be intimidated by a vision without feeling confident of having enough skill, talent, or resources to effectively pull it off. Sometimes we can also feel a disorientation and an anxiety-inducing lack of control when entering uncharted imaginal/cerebral space.

On a deeper level, writer’s block can entail the vulnerability of straying from socially sanctioned prescribed thinking into our own original voice. It can evoke fear of encountering bruised and fragile places where we may have been intentionally or unintentionally creatively shamed when younger and carried into adulthood. 

What activities do you recommend to get yourself in the habit of writing?

It’s useful to understand what conditions are personally conducive to actively wanting to write. I’ll ask my course participants: is your circadian rhythm more attuned to morning or nocturnal writing? Do you need a cone of silence or café chatter? Do you think better into a pen or onto a keyboard? Are you a verbal vomiter hungry for word count, or a slower-moving writer of accretion – polishing line by perfect line? There are so many ways to write and getting unstuck is often about discovering what’s most uniquely relevant for us. It’s also about freeing up the straitjacket of perfectionism.

You’ve written over fifty YA and Children’s books, a dozen of which you wrote in less than two years. What’s the secret to producing so much excellent work? 

I recently counted and it’s 67 books (though to be fair some of those are very short!). I’m not sure there’s a secret so much as getting the things I’m referring to here in alignment. Once those things are working, there’s a flow that can become blissfully effortless. This isn’t about clouds parting to beam in words channelled by angelic beings… so much as the process of story-making becoming magnetic and natural. One of the most gratifying elements of writing is getting out of the way of ourselves, to discover what we didn’t know we knew. This happens when we write words and ideas that we might not have believed ourselves consciously capable of constructing.

Once you’ve begun writing, how do you silence the inner critic who is talking in your ear?

I refer to my inner critic as the crap parrot. Sitting on my shoulder carping CRAP, CRAP, CRAP.  Beyond giving it a cracker (another problem to solve), it can be very helpful to train myself to reframe from crap to what’s not working and what could be made better? It’s a relief to have a first draft (however patchy/clumsy/falling short of my vision) to get to work on fixing things up. And this in turn seems to engage another part of my brain that loves to puzzle solve and refine through the editing process. As someone who can be a perfectionist, this simple reframe from good or crap to what’s working and what’s not working can give my inner critic something useful to do.

In your opinion, is there a benefit to establishing a daily routine to get into a writing flow?

I’m sure there is a benefit and can also acknowledge that it’s best to work with our unique creative make-up. I’m not a fan of Aesop’s fable, ‘The Tortoise and the Hare.’ Some people are diffusive, eclectic, and speedy with lots of otherwise writing time being beguiled by the shimmer of dragonflies and their equivalent. Others can be focused and considered, tirelessly tenacious and solidly plodding towards a writing goal. And many of us are a mix of both. It’s all about identifying and working with our individual creative needs.