How to Deal With Writer's Block

I have a sneaky suspicion about Writer’s Block. I don’t think it exists!

Now, in saying that, I do believe there is such a phenomenon as Writer’s Stop. This occurs when our subconscious discovers we are completely off course and writing in a tangent that is not conducive to the full potential expression of our story and thus stops us dead in our tracks until we figure it out.

A subsect of the Writer’s Stop is a condition called Writer’s Drop. This happens when our self-confidence plummets to such abysmal levels that we have a hard time convincing ourselves we should be writing at all. This is where all the existential questions about why on earth we picked this career path to begin with come careening to a head. One might experience this after their first handful of rejections, or after a negative review, for example. But at its heart, Writer’s Drop is just another facet, another face if you will, of Writer’s Stop, but in this instance it’s our perspective that’s off course.

Marissa Campbell all Zen in Bahamas

As a yoga instructor, I often talked about what I saw as the keys to happiness. Two of those mystical mysteries were awareness and perspective. With Writer’s Stop, we have to be aware that we have in fact stopped writing—we can become pretty darn good at creating excuses and making ourselves seem too busy, all in an effort to avoid the discomfort of facing the hard truth. We have to be aware of our avoidance tactics and acknowledge that we are in fact procrastinating.

Once we become aware of what we’re doing, we can try to understand the root cause behind our Writer’s Stop. Perhaps we have reached a point in our stories where we are bored with it, hence the reader will be too. Or maybe we’ve lost the main thread of our plot. We might even be trying to force a character into doing something that is in fact out of character for them. Or worse, we could be writing the wrong story—maybe we really want to write steampunk mysteries, but are forcing ourselves to try and slog through a paranormal romance.

Writer’s Stop is not a bad thing. It’s a natural part of the process, and it presents each of us with a wonderful opportunity to make our stories better. I learned this lesson the hard way.

After taking part in NaNoWriMo this past year, I made my quota and rocked my word count, however, the furious pace was devastating to my story. I’ve since learned that my writing process involves a lot of reflection and rumination (R&R), followed by joyful spurts of writing. Each ‘stop’ in my writer’s journey is an opportunity to reflect and ruminate on the story and determine where I go from there. As one might expect, I’m a pantser. With this crazy process, I need the R&R to help keep my story on track. With NaNoWriMo, I didn’t have time for R&R and had to force the story and push my way through the red-light-alarm-bell-ringing-full-train-whistle-jam-on-the-breaks-for-the-love-of-God-woman stops. Thus, out of the fifty thousand words I had to complete in thirty days, once the month was up, I ended up cutting almost forty thousand of them. I had to start over from scratch. Writer’s Stop is a gift, an opportunity to pause, breathe, look around, and determine what our story needs to make it stronger.

In the case of Writer’s Drop, perspective is the missing link. We can’t always change a situation (the negative review won’t go away, especially now, thanks to the Energizer internet bunny) but we can change how we perceive the situation. Rather than it being the catalyst that drops us into the deepest depths of despair, we can use it as force for good, catapulting us into a mission to prove the review wrong!

After all, a negative review seems to scream, “Just stop writing for heaven’s sake. Can’t you see you suck?”

Now if you’re anything like me, you don’t take kindly to people telling you what you can or cannot do. Avelynn (the heroine in my debut historical fiction, AVELYNN, releasing September 8^th) is exactly like me in this regards. Rather than take society’s constraints and abide them, she fights, tooth and nail, against their hold.

If someone tells me I can’t do something, I will go out of my way to prove them wrong. I don’t mean to say that if someone tells me I can’t jump off a cliff, that I’m going to do the opposite, but if it’s something I feel passionate about, something that I believe firmly in, like my writing, or my family, or my friends, I may just have to put my foot down and dig in my heels. I firmly believe we can accomplish anything we set our minds to, and rising above negativity (in all its forms) is just one of them. A life of passion is not without struggle. Many people will try and dampen our spirit and douse our flame, but if we feel strongly about what we do, if we love and believe in our words and our stories, then those rejections and negative reviews are just white noise against the backdrop of our dancing feet beating a thrilling tattoo as we march to the sound of our own vibrant drums.

Awareness and perspective are essential to turning something negative on its head. Once you can do that, there’s only one thing left: make a choice. Choose to rise above the self-doubt. Choose to push through adversity and follow your dreams. Choose to remain true to your passions. Soon you’ll be living Writer’s Rock, whereby you rock this whole writing thing and remain steadfast and firm in your resolve to knock this novel/short story/screenplay/memoir/poem out of the park! Swing for the fences, my friends. Rock on!

In gratitude,

Marissa xo

The Dreaded Black Snack-hole

Happy July 1st!

Alright, so this post today is going to be a little less writing and a bit of my other favorite past time, food. A lot of it has to do with a phase I'm going through at the moment, for you see I am a snacker.

And I'm sure you're all thinking, so? We're all snackers to some extent. Well, I'm hoping to improve my snacking life. You see, after my third pregnancy I got addicted to sugar. Don't laugh. It was the only pregnancy I had where I craved sugar. The first I craved pizza and buffalo wings. The second pork rinds (don't judge), but my third all I wanted was junk. Reese's dipped in whipped cream (this is a thing. I promise). Or popcorn dunked in hot chocolate, milk shakes or whipped cream (again, this is a thing. One of my favorite things. I need popcorn.). Even what my family has dubbed as slammers which consists of popcorn, or Doritos (my dad's favorite) eaten together with your candy of choice whether it be Butterfingers, Reese's or my personal favorite peanut butter M&M's.

My baby is now five years old I'm still snacking on junk food. And gaining weight. And the problem is, I snack while I write. Stuck on a plot point? Grab a snack. Hit a wall? Grab a snack. Made it through page one? Grab a snack. The list goes on and on.

I love food. I'm the self proclaimed queen of copy-cat recipes. Want to make Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana? I have a recipe for that. Texas Roadhouse rolls? Yup, and I can even make the butter. Costco's Bistro Scalloped Potatoes? Got you covered with the best recipe ever. I went so far as to find a pretty darn good recipe for Pizza Hut Pizza dough. But the problem with all of these recipes is that none of them help me when I'm in the mood to just grab a handful of something to stuff my face while I'm writing. And don't get me started on just not eating because that's a whole other topic completely.

What I'm hoping to do today, and I'm hoping that some of you will help, is to find snack recipes that I can eat while I write and still remain somewhat healthy and not on a sugar high. And so, I present The Writer's Snack Cave, (I believe it's next door to the writer's cave.).

1. Hot Chocolate with Vanilla creamer

This one is pretty self explanatory and sometimes a kick of hot chocolate does the trick. Just mix hot chocolate with French Vanilla coffee creamer. Ta-da!

2. Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Whipped cream in a can is not nearly as fattening as whipped cream in a tub. Simply cut the end of the strawberry and spray some whipped cream in there.

3. Tortilla Wrap

I love to make these when we're going out of town or on a picnic because the medallions are easy for the kids to eat and not super messy. I like to take a tortilla and spread ranch across. I'm a big meat eater so I like a mixture of turkey, ham and roast beef topped with American cheese. Add lettuce and tomatoes, roll and cut into medallions. Easy for snacking.

4. Fruit Cones

Waffle cones are the greatest thing ever. Add fruit into the waffle cone and you've got a satisfying sweet snack. Add chocolate chips (or peanut butter or butterscotch) mini marshmallows, fruit, wrap in foil and place in an oven or over a camp fire and you've got the best s'mores ever.

5. Veggie Confetti Dip

Now, this recipe I found on the The Nourishing Home website. I love cheese and crackers, and while I haven't tried this yet, it's on my list of things to eat.

• 4 oz homemade yogurt cheese (or cultured cream cheese)
• 1/4 cup each of your 4-5 favorite raw veggies (see suggestions below)
• 1/4 tsp of Celtic sea salt
• Pinch each of dried parsley and dill weed

1. In a medium bowl, add homemade yogurt cheese (or cream cheese), salt and seasonings. Use a fork to mix well to combine.
2. Finely dice ¼ cup of your favorite raw veggies such as carrot, broccoli, celery, green onion, zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, etc. (I do not recommend using cucumber, unless you lightly salt it and let it sit in a colander for at least an hour to drain. Otherwise, it will make your cheese spread soggy.)
3. Add finely diced veggies to the seasoned soft cheese and use a fork to mix together until well incorporated.
4. Line a small glass bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap and add the veggie-cheese mixture to the bowl. Place in fridge at least one hour (or overnight) to harden.
5. When ready to serve, remove from fridge and place flat side down on serving platter. Gently remove plastic wrap. Serve with your favorite crackers.

6. Chips and French Onion Dip

I'm sure some of you are wondering about this because you can buy containers of dip in the dairy section, but my family makes a homemade dip with cottage cheese that I simply can't get enough of. Take a container of cottage cheese, I prefer the larger curds but use whatever you like, and mix in a packet of French Onion Soup. The powdered soups are usually with the regular soups. Dip your favorite chips. Easy and addictive.

7. Spinach Dip

Down the same aisle with the French Onion soup packets is a Knorr spinach dip packet with vegetables. Mix with mayo and sour cream and you've got spinach dip. I prefer French or Italian bread to dip in it, but some people like tortilla chips. 

Of course you can always go with the tried and true past times, hummus and crackers, plain fruit, granola bars, etc., but I'm always on the look out for something I can do myself. Got a favorite writing snack? Share in the comments!