Ask the Author: Doug Barger
Answered Questions (1)
Doug Barger
Great question! Seriously, this is one I hoped someone would ask me.
Why did I hope someone would ask me this question?
I created the cure for writer's block many years ago and it works every time.
If you are an author or aspiring author, you'll want to read this so you can avoid writer's block using my method for yourself.
The first step is to simply identify the purpose of your writing.
When you have the "why" in place, the "how" part becomes easy.
Once you have identified your specific purpose for writing, you are ready to create an outline.
Now here is where you can be sure to obliterate the infamous myth of "writer's block" before it ever has a chance to exist in your world. I call it a myth, because if you know how to avoid it in advance, you never have to worry about it. For me, it's about as real as the monster under my bed was when I was a kid.
(Remember, it doesn't really exist unless you allow it to be real for you.)
With your outline created, you are ready to break down each chapter title into smaller sub-sections. These smaller parts give you the opportunity to really deliver quality information that expands on the main point of your chapter in detail.
Even if you are the world's foremost authority on a particular subject matter, you still need to do quality research and organize it well.
This organization prepares you to stay focused on your goal for each topic in the chapter and stay true to your purpose for writing as you continue to write each chapter.
So much of what people suffer when they refer to as "writer's block" as the culprit is really just the result of poor planning and a lack of organization.
It's easy to feel lost with no map. You could be one of the most brilliant people in the world, but without a clear plan of action to execute your ideas, all your knowledge simply turns into useless information.
When you clearly define your specific goal for writing, create an outline that includes chapter titles and sub topics, you have the "direction" you need to always know what to write no matter where you are on the road to completing each chapter.
When you spend some quality time creating a great outline, keep in mind as you make it, that it is there to serve you. It serves as a guide for more than just what to write about next. You're also able to keep the content balanced in your book when you stick to the plan and work from this outline.
For example, when you use a great outline, you won't have fifty pages for one chapter and only three for another. You'll plan the target number of pages for each chapter when you create your outline.
This will force you to include only the most valuable information and avoid fluff; so not only does this help you as a writer to avoid writer's block, it also serves as a valuable tool to provide your readers a higher quality reading experience.
In addition to creating a quality outline, it will also help you to keep in mind the great advice of what you'll likely read several authors tell you works for them too. And that's this:
Treat your rough draft as what it is, a "rough" draft. Don't put on your editor's cap until you're ready to edit.
Writing the rough draft and editing are two separate processes and you need to keep them separated.
Give yourself permission to write freely and make as many mistakes as you want.
The purpose of the rough draft is output. The editing process is where you'll refine the output.
If you begin to refine while you're writing the rough draft, then you'll stifle your productivity, so don't do it.
Look at it as driving on the interstate. You want to maintain your speed of 70 miles per hour the whole time you're on the interstate headed to your exit.
You only slow down once you get to the exit.
Your exit is the editing process, but you don't get there until you have finished the rough draft.
So keep your foot off the editing brake and keep your foot down heavy on the gas pedal while you write your rough draft.
When you know the purpose of each of the processes involved in your writing, you see it's just as valuable to you to know what you shouldn't be doing during one process as it is to know what you need to do in each process.
This gives you the best opportunity to maximize the productivity of your writing as well as maintain the quality because you will only edit when it's time to edit so that you're focused on doing that exclusively when you're ready for it. When you are able to focus only on the task at hand and give yourself wholly to it during that time, your results are infinitely better than if you mix editing with rough draft writing or create a crude outline along the way as you write.
Keep everything organized from the start and you'll never be at a loss for what to write or where to write it. I sincerely hope this helps shed some light on how to beat writer's block for you. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on how I deal with it with you.
If you have additional questions on how I deal with writer's block or a related question, please feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to answer as soon as I see it.
I care about you as my reader and want to take this opportunity to answer your questions when I can.
I may not always know the answer to every question, but I'll do my best to keep my answers as helpful and to the point as possible.
Read my books and let's talk about them too!
Thank you for reading. :)
- Doug
Why did I hope someone would ask me this question?
I created the cure for writer's block many years ago and it works every time.
If you are an author or aspiring author, you'll want to read this so you can avoid writer's block using my method for yourself.
The first step is to simply identify the purpose of your writing.
When you have the "why" in place, the "how" part becomes easy.
Once you have identified your specific purpose for writing, you are ready to create an outline.
Now here is where you can be sure to obliterate the infamous myth of "writer's block" before it ever has a chance to exist in your world. I call it a myth, because if you know how to avoid it in advance, you never have to worry about it. For me, it's about as real as the monster under my bed was when I was a kid.
(Remember, it doesn't really exist unless you allow it to be real for you.)
With your outline created, you are ready to break down each chapter title into smaller sub-sections. These smaller parts give you the opportunity to really deliver quality information that expands on the main point of your chapter in detail.
Even if you are the world's foremost authority on a particular subject matter, you still need to do quality research and organize it well.
This organization prepares you to stay focused on your goal for each topic in the chapter and stay true to your purpose for writing as you continue to write each chapter.
So much of what people suffer when they refer to as "writer's block" as the culprit is really just the result of poor planning and a lack of organization.
It's easy to feel lost with no map. You could be one of the most brilliant people in the world, but without a clear plan of action to execute your ideas, all your knowledge simply turns into useless information.
When you clearly define your specific goal for writing, create an outline that includes chapter titles and sub topics, you have the "direction" you need to always know what to write no matter where you are on the road to completing each chapter.
When you spend some quality time creating a great outline, keep in mind as you make it, that it is there to serve you. It serves as a guide for more than just what to write about next. You're also able to keep the content balanced in your book when you stick to the plan and work from this outline.
For example, when you use a great outline, you won't have fifty pages for one chapter and only three for another. You'll plan the target number of pages for each chapter when you create your outline.
This will force you to include only the most valuable information and avoid fluff; so not only does this help you as a writer to avoid writer's block, it also serves as a valuable tool to provide your readers a higher quality reading experience.
In addition to creating a quality outline, it will also help you to keep in mind the great advice of what you'll likely read several authors tell you works for them too. And that's this:
Treat your rough draft as what it is, a "rough" draft. Don't put on your editor's cap until you're ready to edit.
Writing the rough draft and editing are two separate processes and you need to keep them separated.
Give yourself permission to write freely and make as many mistakes as you want.
The purpose of the rough draft is output. The editing process is where you'll refine the output.
If you begin to refine while you're writing the rough draft, then you'll stifle your productivity, so don't do it.
Look at it as driving on the interstate. You want to maintain your speed of 70 miles per hour the whole time you're on the interstate headed to your exit.
You only slow down once you get to the exit.
Your exit is the editing process, but you don't get there until you have finished the rough draft.
So keep your foot off the editing brake and keep your foot down heavy on the gas pedal while you write your rough draft.
When you know the purpose of each of the processes involved in your writing, you see it's just as valuable to you to know what you shouldn't be doing during one process as it is to know what you need to do in each process.
This gives you the best opportunity to maximize the productivity of your writing as well as maintain the quality because you will only edit when it's time to edit so that you're focused on doing that exclusively when you're ready for it. When you are able to focus only on the task at hand and give yourself wholly to it during that time, your results are infinitely better than if you mix editing with rough draft writing or create a crude outline along the way as you write.
Keep everything organized from the start and you'll never be at a loss for what to write or where to write it. I sincerely hope this helps shed some light on how to beat writer's block for you. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on how I deal with it with you.
If you have additional questions on how I deal with writer's block or a related question, please feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to answer as soon as I see it.
I care about you as my reader and want to take this opportunity to answer your questions when I can.
I may not always know the answer to every question, but I'll do my best to keep my answers as helpful and to the point as possible.
Read my books and let's talk about them too!
Thank you for reading. :)
- Doug
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