Working against ‘The Block’

Pretty much everyone is familiar with ‘Writers Block’, those periods where your ideas dry up and you just can’t see a way forward. It’s something that every writer has to deal with at some point and we all have our own ways of dealing with it. Sometimes you just need to work on something else, clear your mind, sometimes it just takes a break and indulging in a little leisure (watching movies, reading books etc) and eventually you can overcome and sometimes it’s all down to motivation, some days you just don’t ‘feel it’ in you and getting in the chair is the hardest part.

For my own part, the toughest block I’ve hit recently is approaching the closing act of Camelot 2050: Dark Magic. The story I’ve been working on for over a decade and one that means a great deal to me. Closing a story that I’ve worked on for so long is different to approaching the end of a series I’ve enjoyed reading. There’s a feeling of obligation, to make the story the best I can in service to the readers who have supported my efforts. There’s also a hesitation, once I finish that book where do I go? I have concepts sure, I’ve even started some real work on some of them but Camelot 2050 is my debut, it’s been a part of my life for so long (and will continue to be) but once I finish the series I have to say goodbye to those characters, that world and it’s very much like saying goodbye to old friends.

So, what’s the answer? Well, my answer is deadlines. I have a set deadline, known and publicised on my social media, and the duty I feel to my readers will help me push my creative efforts forward.

I do want to finish, I’m driven to finish but, there’s the duality of not wanting that story to end. Like I say, I have my answers, I offer them here to encourage fellow writers to find their own and to reassure you that, the reluctance to finish a series of books, or even one book, is not a feeling you are alone in. I may come back to Camelot in future but, for now, I have other ideas that I need to explore and other goals to achieve. I hope that Dark Magic is a fitting end for the Camelot 2050 trilogy, I hope you enjoy it and I hope these blogs, infrequent as they are, help some of you with your own works.