Two big things:

1. I remind myself that if I don’t get my scripts in, it throws off production and can hurt the income of the line artists, colorists, and letterers.

2. I remind myself that if I don’t get my scripts in, I don’t get paid. https://twitter.com/augustus709/status/1297711331601195008

And a few other practical suggestions:

1. Start in the place of least resistance. If you're having trouble figuring out plot, start writing out dialogue for a scene you know you'll have in there somewhere. Or if you can't crack some tricky dialogue, start with an action scene.

Basically, jump on anything that'll get you typing instead of mooning around.

2. Create little incentives. I've been doing public writing sprints where I'll announce on Twitter that I'm gonna write for 30 minutes. Then I HAVE to do it! And I usually end up writing for 60 or 90.

3. Change your scenery. Harder to do during a pandemic, but still possible. Sometimes printing out what I have and moving to a couch to edit by hand makes a difference. Just MOVING physically can help. Taking a walk, taking a shower often dislodges good ideas.

4. Care less. That sounds terrible, right? What I mean is deescalate the stakes of any one project in your mind. If we think THIS ONE PROJECT is EVERYTHING and THE ONLY THING EVER, it's INCREDIBLY hard to actually get in there and work on it...

Every project turns into a mess while we work on it. But we have to turn it into a mess in order to figure out what it is and fix it up and make it sing. Like your room looks like a disaster zone when you're halfway through reorganizing everything.

But if we've elevated the stakes of our current project through the roof, that absolutely necessary messy stage looks terrifying and insurmountable. So we gotta deescalate, let our projects be terrible while we work on them, trust that we're gonna crack 'em and make 'em better.

Basically I'm saying give up on perfectionism. Give up on the idea of "perfect." Give up on the concept of "genius." Embrace the fact that everything good was once awful and got better because someone cared about it and loved it and worked on it for hours until it got better.

This is of course easier advice to give than receive, particularly when you've got limited resources & maybe this current project DOES feel like that one make-or-break project. But if fear of failure is keeping you from working on it, ya gotta just let it be awful for a while.

Relatedly, if you're lucky enough to be working with an editor or similar creative partner, one of the best ways to work through a block is call that person up and talk it through. That's what they're for! They love it! And they're smart! It helps!

Shockingly enough, very often all they need to do is let you yammer for a while and you'll end up solving most of your problems just by talking through them out loud.

Another source of blockage is when we're scared of making a simple choice - like is this story gonna go with dinosaurs or dragons? Writers can easily agonize over that for YEARS. Sometimes having an editor just say, "Dinosaurs are cool" gives you permission to MAKE A CHOICE.

Just making choices is so key. When I was in film school, one of our editing professors said if someone suggests a different place to cut, why not just try it? It'll take a minute. Just trying something usually wastes less time than arguing about whether or not to try it.

Try it, see if you like it, make your choice, keep it moving.

Worst case scenario, you go back to your previous draft and try the other thing.

5. (I kinda lost track of numbering, but we'll call this 5.) Don't let people who don't get it kill your passion. YES, seek out critique. YES, take it to heart. But some people - even people you admire - will just not get it. They're not your audience. Don't let them derail you.

6. Accept the physical limitations of our corporeal forms. Yes, I'm about to do a night shift. But in order to do our best creative work, we need to be healthy and rested. If it's 3 am and you're butting your head against the wall, go to sleep. It'll be easier in the morning.

Okay, now I actually gotta get to work for real. Writing sprint! See ya in 30 minutes!