Dr. David Gruder, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books and award-winning psychologist, shares his four secrets to never experiencing writer's block.
David's unique writing gift came from childhood when his father, an accomplished technical writer, and his mother, a published poet, mercilessly edited his homework with input that drove him crazy but ultimately gifted him the rare ability to write with precision yet poetically. Learning that books serve as front-ends for deeper engagement, he shifted his approach to say less while delivering huge value, leaving readers wanting more.
David cured any possibility of writer's block as executive editor of his college newspaper when he consistently had 20 minutes before drop-dead deadline to write his weekly column with zero prep time, teaching him to write final copy without the luxury of writer's block.
One of David’s secrets he reveals is marathoning rather than sprinting, where David goes into seclusion for week-long writing sessions from wake to sleep because marathoning keeps everything fully present while sprinting causes him to lose connections between details. I’ve marathoned my own book on a two-week Atlantic cruise sitting poolside.
David's wife uses sprints and data dumping information onto sticky notes, clustering themes together which reveals chapters and sequence, creating a literal paper trail.
Writing becomes much easier through flow state, where all effort vanishes and content channels through, using the criterion that if what comes through isn't smarter than him, then it goes in the trash.
David triggers flow state by uttering his favorite four-letter word "help" and surrendering to ask higher resources to channel through him, or by playing and listening to music, always using soothing instrumental background music like light jazz, classical, or new age when actually writing since vocal music with words prevents the brain from processing writing efficiently.
I recently discovered lo-fi music acts like a metronome for your brain helping regulate brain waves, particularly beneficial for neurodivergent individuals by calming the brain for deeper flowstate.
Until next time, keep writing, dreaming, and creating—your book is waiting to be born!
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