Episode at a glance:

[03:32] The Outlining Trap

The urge to get stuck in outlining for months,  and avoiding writing comes from wanting to feel in control. To avoid uncertainty.

So what you’ve accepted is “I can’t write without knowing where the story is going” The best way to move forward is to treat outlining like a tool, not a pre-requisite. If you need an outline, create one, but make it a living, working document, not a perfect document. Outline enough to get started, then start writing. Let the outline evolve as you write.

[07:21] You’re Stuck In The Mess of Your Draft

You don’t know what happens next, or where to take the story next. Or you’ve written yourself into a plot hole you can’t solve.You get frustrated. You start to think you’re no good at this. And then you give up because the block feels insurmountable.

But being stuck isn’t a stop sign. It’s diagnostic information. Your story is telling you something. When you’re stuck, you don’t need to solve the problem before continuing. You just need to ask better questions that help you move forward with purpose.

[11:01] The Perfection Loop

You’ve written chapter one, and see problems, so you revise it. You read it again. It’s better, but still not quite right. So you revise it again. You’ve now revised chapter one, let’s say eight times, maybe 12. It’s pretty good, maybe even great. But you can’t move to Chapter Two yet, because Chapter One is imperfect, and how can you build the rest of the story on a shaky foundation?

So months pass and Chapter One gets more polished, but the rest of your story remains unwritten.

Why does this feel unsurmountable? Because the problems in chapter one are real. The opening isn’t as strong as it could be. You need to get this right before moving forward.

This barrier feels responsible and professional.   But what you’ve accepted is, I can’t move forward until this is perfect.

But Chapter One will change after you write chapter 20. It will change once you’ve crafted your ending. You can’t perfect your opening until you know what your story is. And you can’t know what your story is until you write.

[15:04] The Comparison Barrier

You see other writers announcing book deals, or announcing they just published their first book.  They’re sharing their cover reveals. They’re posting about their writing routines – how they wrote 3000 words today, while you struggled to write 300 words.

You feel deflated. Everyone else is so much further ahead. You think they must be more talented, more disciplined, more successful.

You think so you’re falling behind. Maybe you’ll never catch up.

You’re reinforcing this belief that you’re not enough. The comparison makes your own progress feel insignificant and even impossible.

But you’re comparing your behind the scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel. You see their success, but you don’t see their struggle.  It’s become a barrier you keep reinforcing. Instead, ruthlessly protect your creative energy. If comparison is draining, you stop comparing. Step away. Run your own race. Protect your ability to do the work. Success is not a race. It’s a practice,

[19:18] Rejection

You’ve spent months, maybe years, writing and revising your manuscript. You researched agents, crafted your query letter and sent it out to five or 10 agents. Maybe you self-published, but no one is buying.

But then the rejections start coming, or worse,   agents never respond. Or nobody is buying your self-published novel.

This can be a debilitating setback that’s hard to recover from. Of course this feels insurmountable, because rejection is real. You put your work out there, you made yourself vulnerable and got nothing back. Or you got a form rejection that tells you absolutely nothing about what went wrong.

This barrier feels especially real because you have concrete evidence. You actually put yourself out there. You queried, or self-published. And then you got rejected.

But rejection is data, not a verdict. So after your first round of rejections, ask yourself: Do I need outside feedback on my manuscript? Am I querying the right agents for my genre? Does my query letter effectively sell my story? Have I queried enough agents to actually test the market? Do I need to better market my self published book?

Then take action based on what you discover. Maybe that means revising maybe it means rewriting your query. Maybe it means researching 50 more agents who are a better fit. Maybe it means hiring a professional to give you honest feedback.

There is a path forward if you’re willing to question what you’ve accepted and investigate what the rejection is actually telling you.

Link Mentioned In This Episode

FREE Guide: 10 Questions Writers Ask (And What to Do Next)

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