Some people don’t believe in writer’s block. I do think that blindly throwing up your hands and declaring that you just can’t write seems a little melodramatic and unproductive, but I think completely discounting creative blocks puts too much blame on the creator themselves. In fact, in general the term “writer’s block” feels weighted. Like it’s being thrown around as an excuse for lazy writers, or a mysterious blight only the truly creative can understand.

Of course, it’s somewhere in the middle. Creative blocks happen. But they’re not the end of the world, and they’re not all in your head; they’re your story trying to tell you something.

I think of creative blocks as the backlash of inspiration. For all those times that you fall headfirst into the story, when it feels like the story is writing you, there are going to be times where it feels like drugery. Where you’re just going through the motions. This is because writing is work, and work isn’t always fun or easy.

Creative blocks often mean that somewhere, you have taken a wrong turn. Maybe it was even in a burst of inspiration. Not all story threads are meant to be followed through to the end. Sometimes a day of inspired writing is just necessary world-building and character developing. Something you, the author, needed; but that the finished story doesn’t.

No writing is wasted writing. I once overcame a block by completely eliminating a perspective character, and cutting 30,000 words from my story. Were those words wasted? Certainly not! They informed my view of the story, and my understanding of all the characters, so that the story could continue on all the richer.

Creative blocks are your instincts saying “wait, something’s not right here.” But it can be incredibly hard to figure out what and where. We’re told that writer’s have to keep writing, push through the blocks, and sometimes this is true, but sometime’s it’s the pushing that creates the blocks. Sometimes you need to stop, go for a walk. Play a sport. Spend a week hanging out with your friends and re-fueling, or working on a different creative project.

A great writing teacher I had in college taught me that most of writing actually happens away from your computer. It happens when you can’t write anything down; happens in the quiet moments, when your brain is focusing on something else. I try to remind myself this when I’m facing a block, or when I’m procrastinating (because they are not the same, even though they can feel like it). Sometimes, the story just isn’t ready to be told. And that’s ok. That’s part of writing.