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Let yourself have fun

Sometimes our writing blocks come because we lose sight of why we started writing in the first place.

David Gane
David Gane
— 1 min read

One Christmas Eve, many decades ago,  I wrote a short horror story. It was ghoulish, gory, and festive. I had a lot of fun.

In the following months, my writing output dwindled because I started overthinking the work. I worried about grammar, punctuation, spelling, and story structure.

It took me fifteen years to find my way out of it.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t care about the mechanics of our writing. If we want to pursue it as a career, we need to figure those things out.

But when we lose sight of the fun and joy our writing brings us, it quickly leads us to get blocked as writers.

If this blog post finds you in a moment when you are struggling with the work, try to recapture the fun you had when you first started writing.

Seek the type of stories that first inspired you. Allow yourself to make a mess on the page. No one is watching, so let yourself go a little wild.

If you can allow yourself to do that enough times, you may unstick yourself from your block.

All my best. Good luck.

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David Gane

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Co-writer of the Shepherd and Wolfe young adult mysteries, the internationally award-winning series, and teacher of storytelling and screenwriting.

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