I've been blocked for the last few days. So I delved deep into the issue of writer's block. What I've found might surprise you.

Ok, sometimes I doom scroll too much when I’m bored or overwhelmed, so I’ll share two tricks that help me like crazy 1st (to skip content I don’t really want to read) I read the first sentence (the hook). I pause for one second, breathe in and out. I wonder: “do I really want to keep reading?” Some content grabs you before you can ask this question consciously. This has spared me countless threads or long form that wouldn’t have given me so much value over superficial entertainment 2nd I do this when I want to close the app entirely. I pause the scroll. I ask in my mind “brain, remove me from this”. My monkey brain, which would still want the dopamine hit, stops. My adult brain takes over, closes the app and puts down the phone. Now I’m free I guess. I feel silly writing this. But the average adult now spends hours on the phone, and unfortunately I am no exception. Social media are full of interesting content and people, and that’s why I don’t want to give them up, but they are also engineered to capture attention and make you spend as much time as possible scrolling. No one is immune, especially on a tough day, when you’re tired and don’t want to think. The problem is: I’m sure you have somewhere better to be than an endless feed, even on such days. Use social media for the good it can give you, but use it consciously.

You would never want to be talented if you knew how easily talented people get discouraged. Talented people can do everything on the first few tries. Nothing looks difficult for them. You are jealous, because they figure out in an hour something that took you a week to understand. But talent is a curse. When you’re talented enough, you can mistake liking being good at something for liking the thing itself. Then you meet a roadblock and you find yourself restless, resentful, wondering what went wrong. You lose patience and you want to quit. When you’re not talented you struggle from the beginning. You have the gift to understand immediately if you want to fight for something or not. And you build the muscles to conquer adversity from the start. Things don’t get difficult, because they’ve always been. You already committed to your craft a thousand times and you are the one who will endure when others quit in frustration. You’re not talented as a writer? Read. Practice. Learn what makes a scene work, what makes a dialogue realistic and a description sensory. Learn how to build a character arc, and a plot that holds; learn how to come back to the page every day without getting discouraged, even when the story is slipping through your fingers and you don’t know how to control it anymore. Your learning curve won’t be as steep, but you will learn. And when you do get good, nobody will care if you were talented or not.

The greatest tragedy of our time is that most people were trained to be followers and consumers since childhood. Nobody told them they could thing for themselves, create value for the world and build their lives as they wanted them. Fast forward 20 years later and they’re stuck in a job they hate and a life they feel estranged from and they don’t know why they can’t break free. It’s not that they don’t have the tools or abilities; they don’t have the mental framework. They were trained to ask for permission and seek reassurance since childhood and now thinking for themselves, building and changing their lives feels as immoral as a war crime.

I would definitely prefer a coffee date when going out for the first time with a new person. Public place, casual setting, and I’m able to leave in half an hour if I’m bored senseless or the guy gives me creepy vibes. Now imagine being stuck for days with someone you barely know in a foreign country. I’d choose the coffee date 1000 times.

If you always prioritise others over yourself, you don’t just pay in eye circles and burn out. The price is the life you don’t live. The moments wasted doing something that you didn’t care about and that was unimportant to you. The price is burying dreams that never had space to come to light. The price is living someone else’s life and resenting everybody, but knowing deep down that it was your responsibility, because you are the one who needs to bear consequences. Every time you procrastinate on a dream, you’re voting for this life.

Nothing is easier than procrastinating a dream no one is holding you accountable for

Especially when you’re new on X, don’t underestimate DMing people. Not for ugly pitches or anything; just to make friends from a genuine place. I tend to be shy and never DM, but the other day a writer reached out to me, we had a very pleasant talk, and now I like and comment everything they post just because it’s them. If you have the feeling of screaming into the void, just make friends

He would have definitely benefited from the “don’t edit while you draft” advice 🤣

The cure to writer’s block is realising that it’s just you and your keyboard and the freedom to write anything you want, the way you like it. There is no prose police coming for you if your writing stinks.

I quit drinking three years ago I never drank much. Just the occasional glass to celebrate with friends. I gave up that, too. In my country, not drinking is weird. I’ve had people ask me why insistently, or telling me that people who refuse to drink do so because they don’t want to let down their guard and they cannot be trusted, and that I should prove that I could be trusted or that I cared about them accepting to drink. I have no religious reason or health problem. I just know that alcohol makes me feel like crap the day after even with small amounts, and that it’s associated with the insurgence of the worst health problems possible, and it gives me no benefits in return. I don’t like how it tastes and the sensations it gives are something I can live without. I respect people who drink because it’s personal, but why on earth should I be questioned just for making a choice for myself?

Once a writer, always a writer. Somebody asked me how I switch off my writer’s brain and enjoy a piece of fiction. I don’t. Noticing the craft is part of the pleasure. I don’t mind having glimpses into the writer’s mind, spotting clues and anticipating plot twists faster than the average reader, and maybe ruining myself part of the fun. I don’t mind noticing what I consider small technical mistakes. I gave up judging other writers 10 years ago, and if someone’s way of writing irritates me it means they’re not the author for me. I’d argue writing has made me a more conscious reader, and maybe I don’t have the type of mindless fun that a typical spectator has, but I have access to another kind of fun, deeper and more pleasurable. How is your reading experience as a writer?

Books shouldn’t be dumbed down because readers are “tired” and just want something escapist to disappear into. This is true also for movies, art, and other aesthetic experiences. There is something so refreshing in getting sucked into an intricate plot, an intelligent prose that fires new thoughts in your mind and casts light into the abyss. It requires more effort initially, yes. But you arrive on the other side awake, with a deeper understanding of the world and yourself, and a thousand new ideas blossoming one after another. All good things on earth require some attention and patience. Art is no exception.

I wonder why some readers never get the impulse to write themselves. I No shade, I’m actually a bit jealous that you have more time to read this way. But how does it work? You never ever had a story elicit something in your mind that you wanted to write down?

I sometimes get the feeling that the world is getting so lame and devoid of meaning. I can’t trace it back with some specific major event or personal experience. It’s just a lingering feeling that stays and makes me doubt, always doubt. Then I remember that there is meaning in doubt. If you doubt, you’re awake and questioning. And meaning is in the search for meaning itself.

Planning doesn't just fail to prepare you, but it makes you worse at the thing than the person who started blind. It's like looking at a mountain from a helicopter before you hike it. The view from above gives you a clean map. You see every switchback. You know where you'll struggle. You descend, confident you've seen the real thing. But you haven't. You've seen a shape. A shape has no texture, no weight, no weather. The map you built from above is not incomplete — it's *wrong* in ways that will only reveal themselves once you're committed. The person who started with no map is doesn't know what to expect. They adapt. The person who started with one is *disoriented*. They keep looking for the terrain they studied, and when it doesn't arrive, they doubt the ground they're standing on. The longer you plan, the more you confuse the plan with the work. You start protecting the version of reality you already built in your head. Sometimes no plan is better than not facing reality.

Habits that 10x my focus: • green tea • time in nature • daily journaling • drama aversion • intentional boredom • no screens before bed • waking up without an alarm • deep work before everyone wakes up

I used to be very shy about protecting my time. “Emergency“ call from a friend? I'd drop everything. Someone guilt-tripping me into attending a boring and meaningless event? Sure. A “good” opportunity I couldn't say no to? I was down for it, even if I didn't really care. You think losing people is too high of a price to pay? Try losing yourself.

For me, audiobooks don’t count as reading With this, I’m not saying that listening to them is not as “legitimate” as reading, or even that readers shouldn’t count audiobooks as books read, if they want to But I’ve noticed a difference that’s too staggering to deny. With books, I can automate my reading speed. It’s something my brain does immediately, unconsciously. Stuff I understand and I’ve seen before, or easier parts? Skim. A passage I want to savour? Slow down. Something I don’t get 100% at the first pass? Re-read. Now, you can regulate speed with audiobooks as well. But it’s always the same speed, and you need to adjust manually. You have to come back manually. 3x velocity is not the same as skimming. You substitute a quiet glance with an annoying word warp. This results in a flatness and an attrition that’s so frustrating for me, compared to the spontaneity and fluidity of the reading experience I still listen to audiobooks a lot because they are the best when you are commuting or need to do stuff around the house, and you need your eyes and hands focused on other tasks. They allow me to draw knowledge from books I would never have the time to read, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s not as pleasant or deep as reading a book for me What’s your experience?

I used to feel I was at fault when one of my scenes felt so boring I didn't want to bother writing it. I would make it mean so many things about myself: I'm boring So are my characters I can't think of interesting plots Maybe I should discard this story and get over it The truth is: boredom was never accusing me It was just there, pointing at something I could improve. It was whispering "we need more action here", not "you're worthless and this story sucks". It was telling me "maybe there's somewhere better this story wants to go", not "this is worthless". I would get so discouraged. I would treat it as a dead end, while it was just a signal trying to point me in the right direction. Are you also so sensitive, or is it just me?