Writer’s Block: The Symptoms and Diagnosis

Have you ever wondered how to tell if you have writer’s block? I mean, sometimes we’ve just been bitten by the lull bug that will pass quickly, but other times we’ve been struck with the yucky “block” disease. It’s important to identify the symptoms quickly so you can start treating any serious condition immediately before it has detrimental effects on your writing career. (wow… don’t I sound all medicalish?!?)

I’ve come up with this little quiz for you to take to help diagnose the problem.

1.) When you sit down to write, you:

A. Type something that looks like this: ;askdfja;ldkjfa;sdfjaldfkja
B. Fall asleep
C. Jump into action and type away.

2.) When you don’t feel like sitting down to write, you:

A. Clean your house, do laundry, volunteer for the PTA (even if you don’t have kids)
B. Go out with friends or read a good novel.
C. Go get a Coke, and write anyway.

3.) When people ask you how your writing is going, you say:

A. Wonderful! (while lying through your teeth)
B. Not the greatest… but I’ll get there!
C. Pretty good.

4.) When you actually DO write, you:

A. Write 200 words, delete them, then call it a day.
B. Write 200 words then call it a day.
C. Write 2000 words then call it a day.

5.) All the pencils in your house are:

A. Sharpened– very pointy!
B. Unsharpened
C. Pencils? What are those? I’m busy typing here!

(substitute for #5 if you never write by hand)
5.) Your current WIP on your computer is:

A.) Organized by chapter or edition, safely tucked away in a WIP folder.
B.) Saved in your WIP folder with a short-cut on your desktop for future use.
C.) Saved but currently open at the bottom along with your open research notes and any outlines/character sketches you’ve done.

If the majority of your answers are C… then well done! You are bug and disease free!

If the majority of your answers are B… then you have a case of the writing lulls. No worries, it should clear up in the next few weeks. However, if in a month you still aren’t better, retake the quiz. Stay tuned for Monday as we discuss ways to cope with Writer’s Lull.

If the majority of your answers are A… then BEWARE. You may be suffering from the dreaded Writer’s Block! Stay tuned for Monday as we discuss ways to cure Writer’s Block.