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Once again, my Wifesty Bonnie asked me a question. She does that. Often in the middle of something. She will ask me a question out of the blue. Make me stop to look at her like she had a third eye growing on her forehead. Then she’ll ask the question again hoping for a reply. Of course, my usual response is to look at her like she does indeed have a third eye in the middle of her forehead. Quite distracting. Which I guess is why they have such a high impact on me. Makes me stop and think . Not always a good thing.

However, it makes a point. Often you can get too deep into something. Right now, I mostly edit and encourage writers. I collaborate. In many ways I am there for them when they hit a writer’s block. And they are there for me when I do the same.

Writing blocks are inevitable. And so are Editing blocks I have found. I don’t know what causes these blocks. I was writing Tank when I was hit by a giant block. No matter what I did I couldn’t get past the first act.  I tried to work through it, but such a thing never works. You can’t force it. Well, you can but it shows in the writing.

The same thing occurs when you are editing someone else’s work. You hit a wall. Nothing you do fits. Nothing works. You’ve hit a wall and that’s that. Walls you can’t seem to break through or go around or under.

Believe me when I tell you it sucks. Like a Hoover vacuum cleaner or my shop vac. I have tried many ways to fix the times when I hit a block. Listened to all the “experts”. In the end I discovered you can’t fix it. I can’t anyways.

Now understand this, I am only speaking for myself. Each writer is different as is each editor. Editing comes in many forms and formats and some require a creativity equivalent to a writers. Which means you are subjected to the same ails a writer sometimes goes through. Like writer’s block .

I found a way to make peace with my mental blocks when I hit them. I ignore them. That’s right. I ignore them. I fake it till I make it. Often, I will get up and do something physical. Work. Hard physical labor. It often takes my mind off everything and forces me to focus on what my hands or body needs. For instance, I have a lot of dead trees on our property. Trees which need to be trimmed down so they can be removed. I putter. I haven’t got it in me anymore to work like a horse. I used to. I was a legend in my own mind when it came to my endurance. However, sad to say, I have to perform the work in pieces. Putter so to speak. Which works to my advantage.

I can ignore my mental blocks . Focus on something entirely different while my mind percolates the issue on the back burner. Often the answer to a plot hole or how to rewrite a chapter or what to do with a character comes to me in the middle of the night after I have exhausted myself on work.

I mean it. I will ignore the issue. Move on to other projects. Do more work. Let it rest in the fertile field of dreams in the back of my mind. I let it do its own thing while I simply ignore it. However, when I sleep such things comes to the surface. Answers form. Plot lines develop. Characters take shape and sometimes and ending is found .

Endings . God how I hate looking for them. So, I don’t. I let them form on their own. I know, silly right? Most of my writers use a method which require them to plot out an outline for every chapter. Write out character sheets and back stories. Each movement is researched. Each interaction of the character formulated.

All good. Until they begin to put words on their computer monitors. Then the real stories begin. How many times have I seen a writer develop the ending to a story and build the book around this ending? Work backwards to start so the book reaches their ending the way they want it to. Until once again they are in front of their computer and begin to write.

Stories often take on a form of their own. Writers simply put them down on paper. If the story is forced, it’s never good. It takes a relaxation to write a good story . To be able to let go and allow the story to tell itself. Which is why the endings are often never what the author planned in the first place.

Which is when writer and editors and collaborators begin to force the story. This leads to writer’s block . One of the many reasons a writer hits the wall. For each it’s a different reason. A plot hole develops. A character they want to keep needs to die. A chapter doesn’t fit, and they try to make it fit since they spent so much time on it, and it turns out to be some of their finest writing. So many reasons writers hit their mental wall. So many reasons editors do too.

Each has to find a way to move past these blocks. I ignore it. Move onto something else. Something completely different. Let it sit in the back of my mind until the issue finds its own solution. For others I don’t know what to say. Take a bath. Watch an old movie. Reread a great book. Do Yoga. Lift weights. Run. Better yet, go out and have some drinks. Party like a rock star. Get in a fight. Have sex. Several times. DO SOMETHING ELSE THAN THINK ABOUT YOUR WORK!

That’s my recommendation on what to do when you hit roadblocks in creativity and yes, I take my own advice often.

I’m Ross, Editor at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.