The Writer's Block Workbook: A Psychologist's Guide for Working With and Through Writer's Block

Conventional wisdom says the way out of writing block is simple-you just write. It's a twist on this Vincent van Gogh quote: "If you hear a voice within you saying: You are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working." And so it goes-if we hear a voice telling us we are no writer, or then we should write, by all means, and that voice will be silenced. Louis L'Amour, prolific American writer of 105 novels, short-story collections, and nonfiction books, admonishes us to do the same: "Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."

Just turn the faucet on, lad. Just turn the faucet on. Sounds so easy, right? And yet for those of us who have experienced sometimes debilitating writer's block, there's no way we can just turn the faucet on-it's like all of our fingers are superglued together inside oven mitts wrapped in our granny's thick quilt and tied behind our backs with industrial strength duct tape. Just turn the faucet on, just sit down and start pecking away at the piece we're stuck on, word by word-that's not always helpful advice.

In this workbook, psychologist Dr. Jennifer Leigh Selig offers both wise and witty ways to work with and through your writer's block. Each page offers a different challenge-for example, on one page, you'll be encouraged to write a response to something Stephen King said about writer's block; on another, you'll write an obituary for your writer's block; on another, you'll fill in the blanks of a tongue-in-cheek Mad Lib; on another, you'll consider what fears may be driving your writer's block; on another, you'll consider ways to entice writing out of yourself.

Reverently irreverent-or is it irreverently reverent?-this book is designed to get your hands out of those oven mitts and back on the page.