The Write Focus

Many writers—newbies, early wannabees, flash-ins before they flash out—many of these writers never reach the mature writer’s self-analysis stage. These writers don’t learn to seek new methods when the story won’t flow. They don’t seek solutions to plot conundrums and character rebellions. They don’t analyze their writing blocks and seek ways around or over or under or through that writer’s block. Some mature writers don’t do this, either. They stop and wait. For what? Inspiration? The spark of the start of the way out? They should be scaling the problem or dodging it with another project or tunneling to discover a deeper issue with the story or blasting through the Block with fire and passion for writing. We don’t want to confront Writer’s Block. We shrink away, frightened by its lingering. The great unmentioned unmentionable seeks to rule us—will we let it? Not if we have sense. Not if we have a juggernaut of ideas barreling into us, desperate to be released into stories. Newbie or Mature writer, we do stumble into problems. And then we seek advice from other storytellers. Let’s look at advice from another Storyteller who is also a Story Teacher. TIMINGS 00:41 Introduction 02:10 Wilhelm’s Background 03:00 Disruptions 07:58 Imposter Syndrome 14:15 Slump vs. Block 18:15 Silent Partner 23:03 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 24:48   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/11/writers-block-defeat-it-storyteller.html   SOURCE Wilhelm, Kate. Storyteller. Northampton, MA: Small Beer Press, 2005. [email protected]   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

A funny thing happened on the way through entertainment this past weekend. I read Mary Stewart’s The Stormy Petrel. That’s not the funny thing. Mary Stewart is my all-time favorite author. Wonderful character development, intriguing plots, lovely lyrical writing. She’s a guaranteed satisfying entertainment. My favorite novel of hers is My Brother Michael with This Rough Magic as a close second, and running third is The Moonspinners. (If you’ve seen the old film with Hayley Mills, you’ve seen a tragedy and not Stewart’s story.) I read The Stormy Petrel years ago. The story didn’t stick then: IDK the reason. I usually reach for something else when I want a delicious read. This past weekend was different. And now we’re to the funny thing, one of those God winks, preparing the way. The protagonist Rose is a writer. Stewart included several revealing passages about the writer’s life including—get this—Writer’s Block. Let’s examine what Stewart has to say. TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction 02:25 Spark the Start 05:00 Revive the Memory of Story 07:00 Deep into Flow 10:20 Finish that Bit; Don’t just Stop 11:17 Unfolding Inspiration 13:40 Many Projects 18:05 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time:: 19:49   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/11/writers-block-defeat-it-stewart-on.html   SOURCE Stewart, Mary. The Stormy Petrel. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991. https://www.amazon.com/Stormy-Petrel-Mary-Stewart-ebook/dp/B00GVFUEGS     Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

When we’re browsing for information to help our own particular problems, we reach for the weighty titles, the ones that analyze to the nth degree and provide six or seven or thirteen examples. That kind of information scan would miss Judy Delton’s surprisingly valuable little guidebook The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. My own bookshelf, physical and electronic, is scant on information about Writer’s Block. That doesn’t mean I haven’t suffered from it, the way many writers have. Most of my earlier years when I plunged into Writer’s Block, I denied that I had it. It was the great “unmentioned unmentionable” such as Erle Stanley Gardner must have faced. I, too, have looked for processes to spin out a plot or delve into characters. I haven’t gone as far as to create a 15-page outline or 7 Plot Wheels. Nor have I looked for a variety of information on Writer’s Block and how to overcome it. I’ve simply prayed for the opportunities when my writing flows out so easily and hoped, after a stoppage, that I can return to that flowing. I have learned that writing every day prevents Writer’s Block. If we don’t admit to Writer’s Block, can we overcome it? Most of us think we can, simply by ignoring it, keeping it unmentioned and unacknowledged … at least, that’s what we think. The real, actual, only thing that we can do to Defeat Writer’s Block is act upon our Will to Write. I’m not certain that Judy Delton’s little guidebook can be found. It’s not from a major publisher although Writer’s Digest Books is certainly well-known. An internet search turns up cached pages offering the book at used book dealers like Thrift Books and ebay, but the first two that I clicked only catalogued the book; it wasn’t in stock. Anyway, on to part 2 of “Avoid These Mistakes” when attempting to find the impetus to Defeat Writer’s Block. TIMINGS 00:38 Introduction 03:07 Delton’s 5th Mistake to Avoid 07:25 Her 21st Mistake to Avoid 10:13 Bridge thru Guidebook / More Advice than on Writer’s Block 17:10 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 18:57   SOURCE Delton, Judy. The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Writer’s Digest Books, 1985.   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/08/writers-block-defeat-it-avoid-these.html   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Writers read. In reading we are voracious consumers of anything that catches our eye. We may also be hoarders, little dragons perched on a Keep-Forever Book Stack, surrounded by a myriad of smaller To-Be-Read stacks: This Stack First, This Stack Second, This Later, Helpful Stuff, I Wanna Read But Not Now, Maybe Later, I Dunno, and more. When we climb down from our hoard, we may stop and investigate those TBR stacks and do a little re-organizing. And thus I found an unexpected gem which says a lot about Defeating Writer’s Block (literally and figuratively). The book is Judy Delton’s The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. The help from this book will take two episodes to analyze! TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction 04:30 Avoid Mistake #1 11:45 Avoid Mistake #2 18:35 Wilhelm’s Law of Ideas 21:00 Avoid Mistake #3 24:52 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 26:38   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/10/writers-block-defeat-it-avoid-these.html   SOURCE Delton, Judy. The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Writer’s Digest Books, 1985.   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Here we are with More Techniques from Erle Stanley Gardner. We’re tackling Gardner’s solutions for Writer’s Block. Look to the Show Notes for information about the nonfiction book that is the source for this information. TIMINGS 00:42 Introduction 01:07 The Unmentioned Unmentionable 01:51 Notes & Rules on Work 07:30 Plotting Machines 12:15 Gardner, THE Plotting Machine 15:05 Flying Buttresses against Writer’s Block 17:15 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 18:59   LINKS Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/10/writers-block-defeat-it-gardners_0847318555.html Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975.   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

66,000 words per week 140 titles published ~ novels and short stories. Of that number, 100 of them sold over one million copies EACH. Translated into dozens of languages Used pen names because he was so prolific he had to disguise his output from editors Who is this great Defeater of Writer’s Block? Let’s try one more clue. 271 TV episodes produced with his trademark character Perry Mason. Have you guessed the writer? Erle Stanley Gardner. To write 66,000 words each week and to publish 140 titles, Gardner had to have methods and techniques to Defeat Writer’s Block. In his early days, before he became best-selling, Gardner had to learn story-telling techniques, all the craft skills of character, plot, conflict, and resolution (endings). He discovered practical methods and adapted them, and those served him well over his long career as a professional writer. Let’s analyze the ones we can adapt to super-charge our own Write Focus. TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction 03:05 Writing Life Work Habits 04:21 Gardner’s 1st Technique 07:45 His 2nd Technique 09:00 His 3rd Technique (& the most important) 10:30 Two Touchstones for Stories 13:35 These Touchstones Defeat Writer’s Block 15:10 Five Guides for any Story 20:40 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 22:24   LINKS Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/10/writers-block-defeat-it-gardners.html Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975. Lester Dent’s Plot Formula (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/322-short-narratives-part-1-mixed-miscellany-summer-series/?token=787f587776d16329864e1540c7138c9e Video on YouTube https://youtu.be/jA6xHr44XMw Lester Dent’s Plot Formula / printable pdf / https://mgherron.com/2015/01/lester-dents-pulp-paper-master-fiction-plot-formula/ Plot 7 (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/504-plot-7-part-a-discovering-plot/ Archetypal Story Pattern / Greatest Plot Structure in the World (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/stages-1-2-greatest-plot-structure-discplot-447/?token=1f886de066cbc760395ba4fc6edb7519     Defeating Writer’s Block is easy to say, not so easy to do. We writers have to discover the problem we’re having   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It! originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

We’re back with more advice from Pro Writers on Defeating Writer’s Block. Let’s launch straight into business. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 00:48 Barbara Kingsolver 03:00 William Stafford (poet) 03:50 Scott McCormick 09:15 Philip Pullman 12:07 Charlaine Harris 14:43 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:27   LINKS Quotations came from a variety of internet sites Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/09/writer-block-defeat-it-pro-writers-b-743.html   Defeating Writer’s Block is easy to say, not so easy to do. We writers have to discover the problem we’re having   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!, originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

In the first four episodes of this series, The Write Focus shared how to defeat the three-headed monster called Writer’s Block. When we research the topic, we find articles that claim 5 types or 10 types of Writer’s Block. Shudder. I don’t want even to contemplate 10 types. Yet I read the article—so you don’t have to. Guess what? Those 10 types are actually just an expansion of the 3 types we covered in our series—as were the 5 types. And the solutions were exactly what we listed: breaks and escapes, switching projects, overcoming fears and learning new writing skills, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, regaining curiosity, and practicing creativity. We can do this. We can DEFEAT WRITER’S BLOCK. (Shout it!) In this segment, we’ll explore advice from other writers, pro writers who have to meet deadlines and are too professional to churn out boring words. Let’s explore what they say. TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction 01:52 Ernest Hemingway 05:05 Hilary Mantel 06:22 Norman Mailer 07:24 Mark Twain 09:30 Last Words 11:25 Closing Total Run Time = 12:26   LINKS Quotations came from a variety of internet sites.   Video https://youtu.be/h2P27MXEIjw Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/09/writers-block-defeat-it-pro-writers.html   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Still images are in the public domain or author-generated. Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It! originally airing as “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Writer’s Block looms like a sharp-clawed monster over every writer. A daily discipline—No Day without Lines—is extremely helpful, no matter how many you schedule for a particular day. Nulla Dies Sine Linea is our mantra, right? We can overcome a simple refusal to write by maintaining discipline and side projects and our escapes when we’re overwhelmed. We can defeat Procrastination by overcoming the Twin Fears of Failure and of Judgment. If our worries are failure and judgment, those problems are not with our writing but are inside ourselves. Root them out. Our writing is for us. Improve whatever weaknesses we see. When people point out weaknesses, consider these learning opportunities and keep improving. We’ve reached the slimy cave of that real Horrible, Terrible Monster than can destroy everything, not just our writing but our hopes and joys. Type 3 Writer’s Block is Inertia, and Writer’s Inertia kills words and contentment, plans and dreams, grace and well-being. Yet we can and must defeat Inertia. Here’s how. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:38 Introduction 01:43 Writer’s Inertia 02:45 Healthy Habits Defeat Inertia 09:05 Avoid Stagnating Slime 13:15 Wrap-Up 14:23 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:08   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/09/writers-block-defeat-it-overcoming-type_01363288349.html   Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It! originally airing at “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Defeating Writer’s Block is easy to say, not so easy to do. We writers have to discover the problem we’re having with those pesky little words. 1st, we have to find those pesky words—and they do like to hide. 2nd, we have to write those found words down—whether in a notebook or straight to the keyboard. That’s a whole problem on its own. We can’t count the Block as a simple disruption, a wholesale explosion of our writing time. It’s the Desire and the Initiative to write that’s the problem. In our diagnostic quiz (at the end of the Introduction segment), the weakness of our desire and the weakness of our initiative are the driving factors that keep us out of our chair. Last episode’s Type 1 of Writer’s Block is Writer’s Refusal, and I consider it the easiest of the Blocks to diagnose, admit, and defeat. This episode’s Type 2 is a harder Block to defeat. What is the Type 2 Block? Writer’s Procrastination.   TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:38 Introduction 01:38 Writer’s Procrastination 06:58 Fear #1 09:33 Fear #2 10:40 Trolls 14:15 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 15:59   LINK Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/09/writers-block-defeat-it-overcoming-type_0885496330.html     Licensed Music with the content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator Apple Hill Studios, available on Audio Jungle. The music is licensed for podcast and YouTube. Music for the opening and closing segments are in the narration, also licensed from Audio Jungle for the purpose of podcast and YouTube. All short videos with the video are from Pexels.com, a site that offers free short videos, some with sound (turned off for this posting). Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. As a Blast from the Past, our current focus is a series entitled Writer’s Block: Defeat It!.It’s a Blast from the Past, originally airing at “Defeat Writer’s Block” a few years back. Here is a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A   Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS. The original series is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Use these links to purchase the original book. Amazon, Kindle, and Audible https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Writers-Block-M-Lee/dp/B0D7QSV3MH Books2Read Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3112ow AudioBook Now https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/defeat-writers-block/10295605/?msclkid=53302f8cda3f16b4c8e045b1ae0d96ed Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Also available: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at [email protected]. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)