And as for Writer's Block, I Don't Believe it Exists!

Summary

If I believed in writer's block, I would probably say I've had it lately. I just completed re-programming my entire website framework so that I could more easily share articles and code. It took five months of spare time and now I do indeed have an awesome and easy framework...and I'm having trouble motivating myself to write articles. Does that mean I have writer's block?

What is Writer's Block

Wikipedia says writer's block is "a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work."

Can a software developer also have writer's block? I think the answer is yes, a software developer may experience times when it's difficult or impossible to produce new code, or a new design or a new set of requirements. But I believe for both the writer and the software developer, writer's block is exactly the same problem with the same causes and same remedies.

What is Writer's Block, Really?

Let's look at that Wikipedia definition again. It says: "an author loses the ability to produce new work." What does this mean? Well, I suppose for a novelist it means the author will never complete another novel, for a poet, no more poems, for a programmer, no more programs, for a designer, no more designs.

But we know that someone with writer's block is not really physically or mentally handicapped to the point where they can literally not write. A poet could write a poem, even if it was

Causes of So-Called Writer's Block

So if writer's block is not the inability to write or the inability to produce, what causes it?

Lest we forget, writer's and programmers are human. In spite of what many overly intellectual types like myself often believe, we are emotional and physical beings with emotional and physical needs just as important or more important than our mental or intellectual needs. Imagine a writer who has been struggling with writer's block for a few days. She sits down in front of her computer to compose a new article for a magazine which has already paid her for the piece and it's three days overdue. She stares at the screen, confused, afraid, her heart races, her breathing is shallow. She wonders if she'll be defeated once again? But what's really going on inside of her?

No, she's not pregnant.

Our heroine decides she's going to take a quick emotional inventory so she looks away from the computer and asks, "What do I want right now?" The first thing that comes to mind is that she wants a nap. She immediately dismisses the thought because she has so many articles to write and she's already late and the last two have received bad reviews, and... in all the mental hub-bub, she forgets that she wants a nap. The truth is our heroine is exhausted, discouraged and slightly depressed. She needs some rest and some encouragement. She fears more bad reviews and doesn't know what to write that will help her avoid those negative feelings.

I know, I said the feelings word to a bunch of software developers. Well, truth is we're probably the ones that need to hear it most. If you're like me you spend so much time in your head you can neglect the other parts of yourself. I sometimes forget to eat. It's a hazard of the job.

Other causes of writer's block could be that you really hate writing and want to pursue another profession, perhaps your back hurts terribly every time you sit at the computer. Maybe you need some adventure and inspiration in your life.

Trick #1: Find Out What You Need

So, in short, if you're finding yourself struggling with writer's block, find out what you are needing. You are trying to tell yourself something! Funda-mentally, writer's block is a symptom of a deeper problem, just like a fever may be a symptom of the flu.

Imagine Jim, he's programming away on his latest MVC creation. He leans back and touches his forehead with his hand. "!@#$, my forehead is freaking hot! I must have a fever. I can't have a fever right now, I have work to do!" So Jim wraps some ice in a towel and ties it to his head to cool his forehead then keeps on coding. Soon he starts to feel weak all over and his stomach is threatening to eject its contents. Jim has the flu. His fever is a symptom telling him that his body needs his attention. Addressing only the symptom, won't make the flu go away.

Jim looked only at the symptom and wondered why a hot forehead was limiting his productivity. Yet everyone knows that a fever is just a symptom of a deeper problem. While cooling the forehead may be a palliative measure, everyone knows it won't cure the problem.

And so it is with writer's block. It is merely a symptom of a deeper problem.

After taking a look at myself, I realized I've been putting in a lot of time on the website, I haven't been eating as well as I could and I haven't been getting enough sleep. So, yes, I'm feeling a little burned out. I'm also teeming with ideas to write about and can't pick just one to settle on. I'm also wondering if Phil Haack and Scott Hanselman remember the little people? Anyway, given that I'm feeling tired, the best thing I could do is take a break and make sure I get enough sleep and some good nutrition. Maybe I'll feel rejuvenated then. Instead, of course, I decided to write an article about writer's block and how I should get some rest.

Trick #2: Write Junk

But sometimes, you can't have what you need. If you're at work, you can't usually lay down and take a nap. If you're feeling lonely, you may not always be able to find some company. And if you have a deadline, you may feel the need to keep pressing on.

In these situations, I recommend a very simple approach. Write.

The fact is, you can always write, even if it's junk. Every writer and every programmer should have a junk journal or a junk program that no one will ever see. It's the place they can go to write stuff like the following:

Trick #3: Limit Yourself to Ten Minutes

When you start working on a project where you've been suffering some degree of writer's block, say this to yourself, "Okay, I really don't want to do this, but I'll do it for just ten minutes. Then I can take a break again."

For me, this takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders and is a form of positive self-reinforcement. This approach does a few things for me. First, it gets me started. Second, by thinking in a ten minute chunk I can avoid being overwhelmed. I allow myself to focus on one small part of the whole. And you can't get the big project done unless you do each small piece, one at a time. This article wasn't written all at once, but one word at a time. Keep writing one word at a time and the next thing you know you have an article. And lastly, more often than not, after ten or fifteen minutes I'm in the groove and I don't want to stop.

And here's the really crazy thing about the time limit trick. It always works. You would think that I would eventually catch on to the fact that I'm tricking myself and that I won't always stop after ten minutes for a break. Sometimes I do, but it's rare. I don't seem to mind. The promise of a break is enough and if it turns out I don't need that break after ten minutes, I'm fine with not taking it. But I could if I wanted to!

Trick #4: Break it Down

Trick #3 encouraged us to put time limits on the amount of time we'll work before the next break. This indirectly causes us to narrow our focus and think of one small piece at a time. If a novelist says to himself that he'll write for ten minutes, he's probably going to limit his focus to describing a face or writing the dialog for the dramatic turning point when Buffy finds out there's another vampire in town.

But the break-it-down trick is a more direct approach to simplifying. Take some time and break your project into parts. If you're programming a web page you might break it into pages: home, login, widget page. Or you might break it into modules: feedback form, URL redirection, database layer.

Remember the law of three. If you haven't heard of it, then I just invented it. Three is a magic number. You'll just have to accept it for now. It's an article for another day. But when you think about breaking things down try to break it down into about three things or three groups. If you're writing a novel. Break your novel into a beginning, middle and end. Then break each of those into three chapters or sections.

Keep breaking things down until you have a manageable chunk of work that you have a clear vision for.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Writer's block is really a symptom of something deeper, something human. And the best way of dealing with it is to pay attention to the human side of yourself. Recognize you need a little balance, you need to be kind to yourself and, since you're not God, Superman or HAL, you'll have to take this journey one small, patient step at a time.

For you programmers out there experiencing coder's block, use these tricks and the only kind of block you'll be worried about is this kind: