As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my friend Rachael Herron currently has a Kickstarter running for the release of her memoir Unstuck.
To support that, she’s been conducting short interviews on her podcast Ink in Your Veins. She’s been asking writers about times in their lives when they were stuck and how they got unstuck. Some of the people interviewed are even currently stuck. I found it fascinating to hear how different writers define being stuck and what steps they have taken or plan to take to help themselves get unstuck.
Here’s a link to the interview Rachael posted on April 17, 2024.
I’m someone with a history of making huge changes in order to get myself unstuck, such as moving across the country. Or throwing out an entire manuscript that had already come back from my editor because it still didn’t feel right.
On a smaller scale, sometimes all I need is to set a project down for a while. Take a break until I’m in a better mindset.
Or, if I’m stuck in a moment that I can’t get out of (my muscles are aching but I still have to hike back to my car) I’ll first remind myself that this moment won’t last forever. Then I’ll focus on just getting through the next moment. And the one after that. Until I find myself back in a place where whatever was causing me to feel stuck has gone away.
How about you? What do you do to get from stuck to unstuck?
