Talking About

Writer's Block.
___

Noelani Henson ｜March 2023

INTRODUCTION
Throughout my writing career, the process of crafting an essay went something like this: first, the essay was
assigned and a due date was given. I'd let it sit for a few days. Maybe I'd start making an outline or thinking
about a rough draft. When I’d finally find a meek glimmer of motivation to write, I’d sit down only to find
myself absolutely stuck. And so ensued the mental agony that many know as “writer's block”. In a desperate
search to cure myself of this academic illness I decided to contact the professionals. I was able to connect with
Robert Boice, who is the Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York. Having written multiple
articles and books about writer’s block, Boice was happy to tell me a little more about the causes, issues, and
solutions that come along with it. I'm sharing parts of our conversation here in the hopes that you, the reader,
might also find this information useful in overcoming and dealing with writer’s block.
Q: “What is Writer’s Block?”
Boice: “ Well, there are two kinds of writing blocks. One occurs when we cannot write in fluent, timely fashion.
This first sort of block is a familiar pressure for many of us. The second kind of writing block refers to the
paradoxical reluctance evidenced by academicians who could but do not offer help to stymied colleagues or
students as writers.” Essentially, Boice has found that the two types of blocks are knowing what to write but
struggling to get it onto the paper, or lacking the knowledge to even know where to begin.

Q: “What Causes Writer’s Block?

Boice: “ In my own compilations of the literature on writing blocks, two trained judges and I used 100
manuscripts to derive the six most common notions of causes. I've determined that these causes generally
present as less personal and more abstract, if that makes sense.” After talking with Professor Boice, I
summarized his determined causes into the following, ranked from most to least common:

Censors
Boice describes censors as a sort of “ self handicapping”. This cause of blocking is more commonly
seen in children, where they let the warnings of teachers or mentors get inside their heads, creating an
imaginary critic that lives inside of their minds. The child might also, after repeated struggles in
writing, criticize themselves by believing they really cannot complete the task at hand.

Fear of Failure
This cause becomes increasingly common as one’s writing career matures. Boice stated that “fears of
failure have a basis in reality. Blockers perceive writing as difficult and risky because it is: once we
reach the dissertation stage, our writing is often rejected by commit- tees, reviewers, and editors…
blocking can become a fear of fear.”

This cause primarily affects those writing professionally or on a higher academic level. Nobody wants
to put time and effort into something only for it to be rejected. This blocking is rooted in the failure to
try to avoid trying and failing.

Perfectionism
Noelani: “Perfectionism as a cause of blocking? That seems like a contradiction. Would you mind
elaborating on this a little more?”

Boice: “One irony about perfectionism as a cause of blocking is this: we rarely see its kinship to fears
of failure. The traditional emphasis on perfectionism as unrealistically high standards clearly has
similarities to fears of not meeting those standards.” In summary, chronic perfectionists, rather than
attempt and door poorly, unintentionally avoid writing their essay at all.
Early Experience
Boice: “In many cases of chronic blockers, I found severe deficits in playful opportunities to learn, in
confidence building, and in learning useful rules for improvement within their early education.”

This means that teachers have the crucial responsibility of enabling students to develop a healthy and
positive relationship with writing from the start. Failure to make it fun and exciting in early childhood
set up the individual to think poorly of it as they get older.

Procrastination
Noelani: “ I am a lifelong procrastinator and I have no problem admitting to that. However, it seems
like procrastination would only prevent someone from beginning their writing, rather than encounter
a block in their writing. How does this work?”

Boice: “Some of my investigations have distinguished each component of procrastination, including

"self- downing" , fear of failure and task aversiveness, poor task-management skills, and busyness
displays combined with patterns of binging work. I worked with my colleague Clarry Lay to study
procrastinatory behavior. Lay is a professor of psychology at York University, as well as a member of
the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, so he’s pretty knowledgeable in this
area. I’m sure he’d be happy to share a little with you.”

Lay:[on the phone] “Part of the irrationality of the procrastinator may be in their failure to maintain
priorities over a series of ongoing tasks and goals. During periods of the wait stage, they may be less
able to keep these priorities sorted and cognitively available to them through the course of the day and
the week. Or they may actively engage in behavior which does not correspond to their priorities. The
premise here would be that one should spend the most time on tasks that are viewed as most
important.

Mental Health
Boice: “On the one hand, [this cause] suggests that the unhealthy nature of writing acts to block
writers. On the other hand, it suggests that writing attracts unhealthy personalities who tend to block.
My friend Laura Solomon, a professor of psychology at the University of Vermont, has carried out
extensive research on this subject. Here’s what she had to say when I spoke with her the other day:

Solomon: “In our study we examined the relation between academic procrastination and academically
related trait measures. Our subjects were assessed three times on state measures when their midterm
exams approached. We found that high procrastinators were significantly more likely than were low
procrastinators to report more test anxiety, weekly state anxiety, and weekly anxiety-related physical
symptoms.

This cause relates to the habits and tendencies of writers. For example, someone with anxiety might
struggle more with writer's block. This doesn't necessarily mean that their anxiety keeps them from
 writing, but the habits that coincide with their mental health, such as procrastinating out of fear, are
the root of their blocking.

Q: “Are There Any Solutions To These Problems?”

Boice stated that, “Historically, there are four treatments to writer's block.” These “cures”, in order to be
effective, must be used consistently and simultaneously with each other. Here is what Boice had to say:

1. Automaticity
Boice: “"Automatic" means writing with a reduced awareness of what is being written. In simple
terms, this means hypnosis or dissociation”

Noelani: “You're suggesting people hypnotize themselves to cure writer's block?!”

Boice: “ I know it sounds bizarre, but this really is one of the oldest treatments of writer's block. The
earliest written report of it working was published in the 1850’s. Automaticity depends more on
distracting the writer's attention from what is being written than on the personal qualities of the
writer. Dissociation helps build a greater motivation to write, which like hypnosis, induces
compliance in carrying out mutually agreed-upon tasks. It frees the mind of any pre-existing fears of
failure.”

Noelani: “I've never heard of anyone utilizing hypnosis for academic purposes, is this practice
common?”

Boice: “Unfortunately, hypnosis and the link to spirituality contradicts many ideals that exist within
the academic and scientific communities. Hopefully, in years to come, people will become more open
to the idea”

2. Regimen
Boice: “ This cure is basically creating healthy habits and routines to maximize writing ability and
overcome procrastination. I’d like to really quickly call Michael Dillon, one of my colleagues, to talk
about one of his experiments regarding a good regimen. He can explain it better than I can.”

Dillon: “Hello Noelani, Robert. My research team and I created a programme designed to help people
maintain a steady rate of work. Some key parts of our system were clear directions, realistic deadlines,
and added incentivising. Twelve of the 15 tested subjects showed that this incentive system produced
a high and steady rate of completion of the tasks when it was present, while the rate of completion
was considerably lower when the incentive system wasn't in place.”

The use of a good routine with realistic and achievable goals is a good starting point for curing writer's
block. Regimen forces the writer to at least produce something, which is better than waiting around
for inspiration. The hardest part about blocking is getting over the initial obstacle, which generally is
 beginning the piece. This can be avoided by breaking the assignment into smaller, more manageable
tasks.

3. Cognitions
Boice: “What typically handicaps unsuccessful students is that they try to solve the wrong problems,
such as hoping to write everything they know on a topic. What can help them learn to write more
fluently and effectively is a clearer focus on solving problems such as scheduling regular daily times
for important tasks like studying and writing.”

Writers should work to develop good study skills and strategies to see improvement on their
performance. They need to be able to problem solve, and find what is causing their block in that
moment.

4. Social Skills and Supports

Boice: “At its most effective, this form of help for blockers emphasizes the social supports and social
skills of scholarly writing. Here, more than anywhere else in the historical trends of treatments, a
crucial step in de- termining the tacit skills that need teaching is emphasized. That is, many of the
prescriptions for establishing collaborations and support networks rely on observations of already
successful writers. My own work on professors with exemplary careers, for instance, models inter-
ventions after their habits of success. Specifically, I have found that junior faculty who accomplish
little writing can be induced to mimic the patterns of peers designated as "quick starters" who balance
time spent on writing with that invested in social networking.”

Final Thoughts
If you suffer from chronic writer’s block, you are not alone! Through my conversations with multiple
professionals, I’ve learned that it is a very common problem, and there are many ways to cure it. To tackle your
writer’s block, you must first identify the root cause and work on healing it first. For me, Ive concluded that the
primary cause of my writer's block is my habit of procrastination, and I will not procrastinate on fixing it. The
road to recovery is very manageable. I suggest you take the advice mentioned in this post to heart, and you’ll be
writing like never before. <3
Citations

Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Differences between High and Low ...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232596718_Affective_Cognitive_and_Behavioral_Differences_Betwee
n_High_and_Low_Procrastinators.

Boice, Robert. Writing Blocks and Tacit Knowledge - Jstor.org. The Journal of Higher Education,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2959976.

Dillon, Michael J, et al. “A Supervisory System for Accomplishing Long-Range Projects.” Taylor & Francis, Oct.
2008, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J075v02n03_07.

Lay, Clarry H. “At Last, My Research Article on Procrastination.” Journal of Research in Personality, Academic
Press, 27 Aug. 2004, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0092656686901273.