Who Doesn't Like Summer?
 
The cool rainy weather has finally left Toronto and mostly been replaced with warm sunshine. I've so missed the sun.

In Canada, summer can be best described as a few weeks of scrambling to accomplish as much as possible outdoors - garden projects, BBQs, garage sales, street festivals or sitting by a lake or pool with a good book. Canada has only two seasons, summer and 10 months of lousy weather.

I've also got a big vacation planned. I'll be leaving soon for a 14-day European trip that will include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Hungary. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I'll be posting photos throughout the trip.
 

That Deep Dark Hole That Can Consume Writers

I would have already completed my first draft of my current manuscript if not for writer's block. For almost two months, each time I sat down to work on my manuscript the same feeling would engulf me. I felt the room turn dark. The walls began to close in on me. Emotionally, I felt a combination of frustration and despair.

That's what writer’s block feels like for me.

Back in the 1950s, a psychiatrist named Edmund Bergler studied writers with creative issues and labeled the condition as “neurotic inhibitions of productivity.” He was Freudian trained and recommended psychotherapy. Since then, various mental health professionals have conducted research on the condition and recommended approaches to overcome creative block. Many of my writing peers have also provided tips and advice.

But that feeling wouldn't go away. It’s not that I wasn't able to write. I just hated everything I was writing or had written. Nothing I wrote seemed funny. Everything seemed structurally weak. The plot seemed to be going nowhere and characters paper thin. Those amazing images that floated around in my head had been replaced with darkness. My main character, Dix, had been dictating much of the story to me, but he had gone silent.

It boiled down to lack of confidence. I no longer believed in myself.

I’ve read dozens of articles on writer’s block. There are so many do’s and don’ts. Some advice is conflicting. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no “one size fits all” solution. I tried to switch from writing to editing but that made things worse. I found I wasn’t creating but only tearing down. I tried reading for inspiration but it felt like a form of avoidance.

I finally set aside my manuscript for a little while and worked on other things. Some writers have multiple pieces they are working on. I prefer to work on one manuscript at a time. Then one day Dix did return. I can't even remember what triggered it. I just know I'm back working on the story and I can see the finish line.