Admin Galore!
Struggling with Writer's Block...
If it feels like I’ve been missing a little depth in my essays lately, I understand. I feel it too. One of my Creative Writing Professors called this, “writers block.” But to that I would say, I’m not blocked, I’ve been writing lots!
The thing is though, writer’s block comes in many different forms. It’s anything that keeps you from writing.
It’s not always sitting in front of a blank screen, just watching the cursor blink. It can be literally anything: The day job, or family obligations. It could be a side project that suddenly jumped to the forefront. The time of day, or night — if you’re like me and wake up at 3am with the most brilliant prose that’s ever been conceived. And then are lucky if fragments make it onto paper.
Writer’s block could come in the form of your favorite k-9 companion, or I guess it’s counterpart if you like being stalked. It can be anything that keeps us from writing.
So what’s keeping me from writing?
Admin. I’ve got Admin Galore!
I must admit that I have not been spending much time studying at all lately. My morning meditation and study time is still there, but barely. As soon as I’m done, my mind has moved on to something else — something writing related yes, but it’s more Admin than actual writing.
Note to my nonwriter-readers,
How does the idea of Writer’s Block translate into your life? What keeps you from spending as much time as you’d like on ‘your art or passion’? I would love to hear from you in the comments or via email!
There’s a lot more that goes into the social aspect of the craft than I originally thought. Well, maybe not more than I thought — I always knew that this would be a part of it, I just couldn’t have actually imagined myself doing it.
Y’all, I only just created my Instagram and X accounts a couple months before I joined Substack last year. Here are my handles over there if anyone wants to connect. X.com/mjpolkwriter & Instagram.com/thesoutherncopywriter (Disclaimer- I ain’t there much. I had to make myself share the Dueling Jukeboxes prompt there earlier this week. It just ain’t my kinda scene, if you know what I mean.)
Substacker and author Jason Arehart talked about this recently in his post titled, Striking the Balance. In it he discusses what he calls being a good Literary Citizen — supporting fellow writers, the pull of social media. And how, putting the writing first, is the only real solution.
This brings me to admit that when I say Admin, I’m lumping quite a bit of stuff in there with it. Which is basically, anything that is not writing. Including you all, sorry. And that’s part of the problem, a bunch of it is actually fun! I like being here and participating in this community. It’s fun to make and edit videos over on the Guild. The Jukebox newsletter an absolute freaking blast!
(Plus like Jason says, the days of being a loner and people reading your writing and thinking it’s cool that you’re a mystery, are over. That shit is creepy, or they’ll probably just assume your AI.)
But all that takes up a huge chunk of time — not to mention, brainpower. It can be mentally exhausting. And for some reason I find it much easier to escape into fiction, than in writing personal essays. Whether that be reading it, or writing it.
And it’s not that I’m not writing essays either, it’s just a lot harder to maintain focus on those projects or subjects when my writing time is broken up. I typically blurt out the first draft of a personal essay all at once, while in the heat of creative flow. And that’s hard to duplicate once it’s been broken. Where when I’m writing fiction or auto-fiction, it’s pretty easy to slip back into that world after reading a previous chapter.
And I think it’s more likely that this is the most common form of writer’s block today. I mean, it’s hard for me to imagine not having anything to write — do you have any idea, just how many ideas are in my idea bucket? Actually, I bet most of you who are writers do have an idea — because your idea bucket is overflowing too!
I know that my friend Jennifer Haddock 🌼 gets it! She’s mentioned how she’s been overwhelmed with Admin lately also.
It’s rarely going to be, staring at a blinking cursor these days. I think it’s much more likely to be a time issue. We’re all pulled in so many directions constantly, it can be extremely difficult to make time for our art.
Unless of course we’re talking specificity. Now if there is one particular thing that has to be written next, then I get it. I could totally see writer’s block being the dreaded, Blinking Cursor in that case. Because, I don’t think that’s how creativity works at all. At least that’s not how it works for me. I think, if you’re trying to force a story — you’re flat out doing it wrong.
Does that make me an amateur? I don’t know, maybe.
But I don’t see it that way at all. I think that if there’s pressure to write some specific thing before it’s time has arrived, than writing has been turned into a chore. It’s not Art anymore, it’s Work. So I’m obviously not talking about creating copy here. In fact, in that case you get handed a subject and you write about it. Easy-peasy.
Okay, so back to The New Writer’s Block — Marketing & Social Media, or any other outside force keeping you from writing. What do we do about it?
I don’t know. Na, I’m just kidding.
No not really, I really don’t know. 🙃 But I am trying to figure it out. And I’ve got a lot more to say about this… Is it an impossible feat? Jason lays out a great approach, and I have made a few changes lately — maybe we can all figure this out together! What y’all think?
What if I made this an open call for submissions, and offered to follow this newsletter up with a second one including some of your ideas on how to juggle this new monster? This New Age Writer’s Block.
Prompt- How do you balance all the Admin Galore, with putting the writing first? Or is there something else that vies for your writing time?
So here’s what we’ll do. If three or more of you answer yes to the above Poll, I’ll plan to follow up this newsletter in 4 weeks with another that includes everyone’s submissions to the prompt. There’s no competition here. The only thing there is to win is participation in the conversation, and hopefully together we find a remedy to this New Age Writer’s Block.😉
If you’ve answered yes, just add your submission or a link to it in the comments. I’ll check back in a couple weeks, say around the 20th of April, and respond to any submissions. And if we get three or more, I’ll make it a newsletter. I’m really interested to see what y’all have to say!
Oh and if you’re not interested in making your own response, I hope you’ll stick around to see how the others are dealing with the challenges of Writer’s Block. I’m willing to bet that these tactics can be applied to all sorts of adversity!
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ❤ button. Email readers, just hit reply — I want to hear from you too! I would love to hear how you are dealing with the constant demand for your attention.
Don’t like commitments, but still want to support my writing? You can make a one-time contribution here.
Speaking of Admin… Remember, this isn’t my only pub. Here are some of my recent favorites from the Guild & Jukebox. See what I mean, I have been writing lots!
And here’s a blooper, cut from my voiceover. Idk why I could not say specificity… Blocked maybe? I finally just gave up🙃🤣
I feel you on the admin! For me, I’ve decided that I need tighter stimulus control over writing (“pen to paper”) vs editing a compete unit vs non-writing related writing tasks (admin, organization). With only so much time in the day , and a habit of the first one but not the others, I think I need to establish an entirely separate time to do the other. Keep my morning writing practice as is but carve out time for the other two, in which that’s all I do.
Idk if that’ll help you but it will help me! Stimulus control, baby!
There's so much going on in this one. My writers block really is nothing more than I don't have anything I want to say, during these times I'm doing what you call Admin stuff.
When I'm writing or producing, that's what I'm doing, I put the admin stuff to the side.
I don't have a bucket of stuff/ideas, what I do is everyday, I I pull up Word and just start typing whatever words comes to my mind at that time. Sometimes it's only a sentence or two, other times it's a page. If I think it's good then I'll publish it.
But I don't think of subjects, titles, or draft outlines first then start writing. in fact if you gave me a subject or a prompt and told me to write about it, I most likely would come up blank.
Now I know that in this world that makes me a oddball, but if I do any of that type of stuff, I'll get bored before I even get my first sentence written and just wouldn't write about it.