One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard goes something like this: if you think you have writer’s block, lower your expectations. For me, it’s a great reminder to muzzle the inner editor and just write.
A good sentence comes in the outpouring of many other sentences – some good and many bad. I find my inhibitions are much lower if I allow myself to write complete rubbish – it’s a very freeing feeling. The teeth and nails of the inner editor can be released later, once the words are on the page.
Lucie Wilk grew up in Toronto and now works as a doctor in London. Her short fiction was nominated for the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize Anthology, longlisted for a CBC literary award, and appeared in Descant and Prairie Fire.
She is studying an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and working on a novel based on the characters in Stalin’s Good Friday, joint winner of the Hush/LWC short story competition. Read it at www.shortfirepress.com.