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

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

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.)

Hey! Our claim is that Writer’s Block doesn’t exist? And you say, “I don’t believe it. I’m blocked. I’m suffering with Writer’s Block.”

Believe it or not, the truth is that Writer’s Block does NOT exist. Not. No way. Nope. We can write, but something keeps us from writing what we very well need to write.

At the end of our last episode, the introduction to this series on Defeating Writer’s Block, we classified 3 types. Knowing the type that’s affecting us, that’s part of the solution to any Writer’s Block . . . for we can make claims, we can repeat a mantra–but something’s blocking us.

The other part of the solution to Writer’s Block is our WILL–even if we don’t want to write, we MUST. We NEED to. We gotta!

The only problem with saying “MUST and NEED and GOTTA” is that I’m afflicted with bloody-mindedness. As soon as someone commands must / need / have to / gotta–my bloody-mindedness kicks in. “Oh yeah? I think NOT.”

That’s where WILL comes in—and that’s our focus this week. Overcoming Type I of Writer’s Block, classified as Writer’s Refusal.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 22:43

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/06/writers-block-defeat-it-overcoming-type.html

Licensed Music with the content is available on Audio Jungle, entitled "Simple Acoustic Guitar".

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.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Content copyright is 2020 to 2026, Writers Ink Books.

Can you name a phrase that every writer fears? Try “Writer’s Block”.

We writers all have a deep-seated fear when we hear those two words side by side. Writer’s Block—those should be forbidden to speak together.

We have quite a number of pro writers who claim there’s no such things as Writer’s Block, and I’m one of them—but I will admit that I find myself refusing to write or avoiding my desk or just stuck on a story. Distractions and disruptions occur, and before we know it, weeks—not days, weeks—have passed. With few words written, our writing plans are blown. Guilt descends—and the clouds of guilt and disappointment and dismay and more disrupters descend and . . . gosh, we don’t even want to think about it.

That’s the purpose of this series: we want to Defeat that Writer’s Block.

To do that, we have to look more closely at Writer’s Block than we want to.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 17:20

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/07/writers-block-defeat-it-intro-quiz-737.html

Licensed Music for the content portion is “Simple Acoustic Guitar,” 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.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Writing is a Business.

Yes, it is a creative endeavor … with a business result.

I do not like to call my writing a Product. I think in projects, not products. Yet each blog post, short story, flash fiction, novel, guidebook, they are products that I am selling in my business.

When you put your writing out there, whether you offer it free or charge for it, it’s a product you are selling. Yes, even free things are being “sold”. Your reader’s attention buys that product.

So while writing is an art, it’s also a business, and we need to treat it like a business.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 10:01

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/08/writing-is-biz-quick-tips-for-writers.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Plan your Work, & Work your Plan.

Back at Quick Tip 14 we talked about overcoming difficulties by setting work deadlines, using math skills to determine the number of writing days and how that time will fit into the calendar. Knowing that time frame helps us to avoid that dark fear of back-pedaling instead of progressing.

Face it, writing is a steady uphill climb before we whiz downhill until we start setting up our next writing project.

And that’s the second truth: that writing works in projects.

The first truth: we can finish what we start through persistence and resolution.

That second truth, working in projects, helps us look into the future. Each single project has a start, middle, and end point before it becomes linked to the other elements of a larger project.

Success in all of those projects means planning what and when and how as well as following that plan daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and over several years.

TIMINGS

00:40 Introduction

01:10 Planning & Working

010:43 Closing

Total Run Time = 11:43

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/05/plan-your-work-work-your-plan-quick.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Tackling the next book requires three sets of seven. The Plot 7 determines the conflict that will drive the story. 7 Character Sets will develop the story’s heart and mind.

Our focus in this segment will be the 7 Writing Stages.

I did not say seven drafts of the novel—These are the seven work stages, each requiring a different part of your writing mind.

We're using 7 different parts of the brain!

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 11:56

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/05/7-stages-of-writing-quick-tips-for.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Content copyright is 2020 to 2026, Writers Ink Books.

As with the seven scenes that build the story, introduced in the last segment, seven character sets develop the story, increasing the conflict, intensifying suspense or adding complications.

The four main characters who drive the conflict of the story are protagonist, antagonist, an important friend or ally, and the seeming ally.

Our purpose in this segment is to list and briefly explain these 7 Characters. We need more than their skeletons; we need their minds and hearts.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 12:21

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/05/7-character-sets-quick-tips-for-writers.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Content copyright is 2020 to 2026, Writers Ink Books.

In considering your next writing, what is your first approach?

Many start with a situation: a thriller in the backwoods. Others start with character: a free-willing type faced with his two orphaned nieces. Or you wake up with a title, and the story springs out when you sketch a few ideas.

We are never truly blank when we start.

No sooner do we have an idea than a main character emerges, a glimmer that solidifies as we consider that shining idea for the protagonist.

At this point, many say start with character templates. I disagree. I think our best start is that shining character in conflict. I propose a start with what I call the Plot 7 ~ seven major scenes that will tell if you have a story or not.

What are these 7 scenes?

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 14:01

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/07/tackle-next-writing-quick-tips-for.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Overcoming difficulties is a constant process, no matter which profession you enter.

All my guidebooks on writing contain insights that I wish I had understood then. Instead, I nodded along, thinking I understood, but I didn’t turn those insights into practical application.

Many writers talked about difficulties and consistency, but they usually added the dreaded word “Deadlines” whenever they talked about keys to success.

After years of experience, I must agree with them. Every project has a deadline, and deadlines get things done.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 9:07

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/07/overcoming-difficulties-quick-tips-for.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Content copyright is 2020 to 2026, Writers Ink Books.

Alice followed the White Rabbit into a hole that dropped her into a strange world.

Writing is like that, a hole into a strange wonderland. A project is an intriguing white rabbit luring us to follow even as it reminds us that the project has to meet a deadline or be “late for that important date”.

Our Writing Wonderland operates on 3 Basic Rules. Get these writing rules right, and your Wonderland will not turn into a horror story.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 5:20

LINK

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2026/07/writing-is-wonderland-quick-tips-for.html

Licensed Music with the Quick Tips content is “Simple Acoustic Guitar” from the creator applehillstudios 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 Quick Tips for Writers. Here is a link to the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7JoFvT3aJEZPpneLjOH1Ur_&si=j8n2yOeaJz05H4bY Select the most recent episode through the URL after the TIMINGS.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

Content copyright is 2020 to 2026, Writers Ink Books.