A Pep Talk on Writer's Block

You’re not broken, writer friend.

An author recently told me that he doesn’t experience writer’s block. And, honestly, that’s so cool for him. But for the rest of us, I’m here to tell you that writing is hard and often horrible. And if writers were more honest with each other, we’d recognize that fatigue is a very natural part of the creative process. 

After I got my book deal for Instructions for Traveling West, I spent a solid two months wrestling with writer’s block. It was miserable. I was worried I’d never find the poems to finish the book. But after several agonizing weeks, I finally uncovered ways to move out of anxiety and into play. And I finally finished that book with poems I’m proud of. 

It turns out the answer isn’t white knuckling it at your writing desk. Or berating yourself for not being Joan Didion. Or telling yourself you’re not pretty or smart or writerly enough to cut it as a real author. Rather, it's about partnering with your body to find the strategies that move you into a more imaginative state. 

Here’s my best advice on beating or rather befriending writer’s block: 

Gather the tuft

It sounds deranged, but in order to get unstuck, I write several things at once. I open Google Docs and flit between writing a poem, a craft talk, an essay, or an IG post. I let my mood decide which voice I want to write in and what feels most organic in the moment. I give my thoughts permission to wander without judgment—like tufts of dandelion seed. My job is to catch the good ones and let the rest float on by. Faulkner killed his darlings, but I don’t delete good ideas. I save them in a jar until I’m ready to replant.   

Eat a rambutan

When writer’s block is really unbearable, I take myself down to the H Mart at the end of the street and buy a fruit I’ve never had before. I set that rambutan, sapodilla, or cactus pear down on my desk and I write. I get weird. If this kumquat were a song, what instrument would be playing? If this taste were a color, would it be fuchsia or violet? If sugar were a shape, why does it feel like an oval? We’re hungry, funny little mammals you know? If you want to write something that sparkles, try eating something strange. 

Indulge your obsession 

The key to writing anything worth reading is simple: have an obsession and then write it down. Describe it from every angle and vantage point. If you don’t have an obsession, it’s pretty easy to get one. Try scribing your dreams for a week or investigating your deepest phobia. Try stealing everything your 5-year-old says or asking a stranger out for drinks. Find a fact (like how an octopus has three hearts) and use it to send you into fanatic research. Take a long solo trip to the middle of the desert and listen to what emerges from the silence. Get and remain obsessed. Write it down. 

Send yourself on assignment

Every month, in an effort to drum up new material, I go out into the world and do something scary. I don’t go as myself, I go as an undercover investigative journalist. I go to places that I, Joy Sullivan, wallflower, poet, and general anxiety expert extraordinaire would never go. Places like sex clubs, rage rooms, silent retreats, dance parties. Then I write about the complicated emotions that come in unexpected places (see recent essays like Woman in the Rage Room). Viewing an experience as an assignment grants me both courage and access. So gather your burning questions, adopt a persona, and seek out some productive complexity. Maybe you want to swim naked in a hot spring or return to a childhood haunt or dine in public alone—go do something interesting. Tell the bartender your name is Thursday Jones, bring your notebook, and write.

Binge on beauty 

One of the best mental shifts I made in my creative life was to start viewing reading as nourishment. Poems as sustenance. Novels as protein. When I'm blocked, I feed myself words by

Maggie Smith

, Ann Carson,

Maya C. Popa

, Erica Miriam Fabri,

The Piano Farm

,

Danusha Laméris

. I binge on quiet, thoughtful films that make my brain stretch like Three Colors Red, Past Lives, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. 

And suddenly, I have the energy to create again. If I’m feeling dry, it’s usually because I haven’t read or seen anything gorgeous in awhile.

Be a beginner, always

Finally, I’m going to pass along some sage advice Ellen Bass once gave me in a workshop. She told me the key to writing consistently is to commit to always being a novice, a beginner, a baby writer wading through the terrifying snow of the blank page. 

She offered me this quote from Rilke: 

    “If the Angel deigns to come, it will be because you have convinced her, not by your tears, but by your humble resolve to be always beginning: to be a beginner.”

        -Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

And my goodness, if it’s good enough for Ellen, it’s good enough for me. 

At the end of the day, writer’s block, is really just anxiety or exhaustion. It doesn't mean you’re washed up or unoriginal or a fake. It just might mean you need to eat a kumquat. Or scare yourself a little. Or to fill your head with the most gorgeous lyrical phrases you can find and then take a nap. The words always come back, I promise. xx

Do you experience writer’s block? What helps? I’m dying to know. 

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WHAT’S NEW

Exciting news!

My book Instructions for Traveling West is almost here! And now, I’ve partnered with Broadway Book to offer a signed + personalized copy of the book AND a free 5x7 print of the title poem with preorder purchase. This offer is good only until they run out of prints so snag your copy quick. IFTW is all out about leaving and leaping and flinging yourself into the magic dark. Preorder here.

Sustenance Waitlist

My writing community, Sustenance, is full but we should have a couple spots opening up soon. If you’d like to join, jump on the waitlist.

Workshop: Putting Together A Poetry Chapbook w/ Maya C. Popa

Sun, Mar 10, 2024, 10:00 AM PST

In this two-hour session, poet

Maya C. Popa

will walk us through how to curate, organize, and revise a chapbook. She will take your questions as we go along and devote the last 15-minutes of class to more Q&A on particular questions/struggles you’re encountering as you embark on your own chapbook journey. Just a few outside seats available. Grab a ticket here. Replays available.