Last week we looked at ways to deal with writer's block when pushing through is not the only option. That's all well and good until there's a deadline staring you down, making your palms sweat. Deadlines are fickle beasts. They make writing harder and also make it happen faster for most writers because, well, there are entire twitter threads on most writer's feeds detailing all the not writing things we do when we're supposed to be writing. But, getting through excuses is another post in this series. This is about pushing through writer's block because you just have to.
Pushing through is exactly what it sounds like. It’s when the baby is coming and pushing no longer becomes a matter of when, but of how long it takes to get the baby out (sorry, not sorry, I’m a mom). Pushing through writing, well, it usually sucks and the words that fill the page take longer to get down than any ever and taste like failure and coffee dust licked from the bottom of an empty can on a Monday morning. It is not fun and the words often suck or at least feel like they do, but unless they get down on the page, there is nothing to fix in editing. Sometimes you have to force it and sometimes it just has to suck. Not the nicest thing to have to do at all, but it happens. Surviving is the key to pushing through.
First, get comfortable. We've already established that any time you're in this situation as a writer, you're not going anywhere until you finish. Comfortable clothing, food, music, space, food, blankets, and enough chocolate are important to keep focus and ease the suck of creating when you're not in a creative frame of mind. I'm no nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure that calories don't count when you're pushing through. Okay, now that you're comfortable and have removed distractions, stare at your document.
Before you start to cry and blubber at your stupid characters for not talking to you when you desperately need them to go ahead and write their own book, get up. Wait, I know I just told you to get comfortable and now I'm telling you to get up. No, I'm not completely insane. (Okay, maybe I am, I make up entire civilizations that don't exist and get upset when the details aren't right.) So yes, actually get up and go for a walk or stretch your legs because in all reality, you've probably been in your chair for two hours and blood clots are a real problem that can hurt you and possibly kill you and stuff. So, get up and move around from time to time.
Third, you'll be back at your computer by now having stretched your legs and prevented getting an embolism for the moment. It's time to make words happen. If you cry, it's okay. If you get one word, it's okay. If you invent a new alien race and get ideas for a spin off from the manuscript you shelved ten years ago, well, write it down and get back to your document. Because it's pushing through and the only way to get through pushing through is to force the words out.
One thing that works for me is to set small goals like writing a hundred words and then going for another walk or eating another handful of M&Ms or whatever reward is close at hand and whatever amount of words I knew I can make happen in order to earn a reward. Use whatever reward works the best to motivate you to hit those small goals. A hundred words is a really nice amount because it's not really very much. Break it down to the amount of words that would fit in a tweet if that's what it takes.
Basically, pushing through means doing whatever you have to do to get the words out when they won't come on their own. It sucks and it's hard. I hope this will give you a few strageties to survive it the next time you have to face it.