When you don’t know what to write, write. Right? Well—that’s kind of like somebody saying, “Cheer up,” when you’re down in the dumps. Down there, usually we’re not asking for help.

Writing can be like that. We understand intellectually that we should just cheer up (or just write), it’s what we want, in fact. Or is it?

A lot of times, the only thing standing between us and the blank page is our own lizard brains whispering lies to us.

You can’t pull that off.

Oh, so we’re just giving up on that other story then?

That’s been done before.

Give up. Go take a nap.

The truth is, we must separate ourselves from ourselves and focus on the writing. That’s the best part. What we write doesn’t have to have anything to do with what we’ve done before or how shitty the day or week was or future fears. Or, it can have everything to do with those things. The trick is using your sadness or anxieties or [insert whatever it is that lies to you and offers anything short of praise for the bravery of speaking your Truth] to say the magic words that will break the spell of creative drought.