Key Facts:
- Australian clinical psychologist Dr Vincent Fogliati and professional ghostwriter Roger Joyce have co-authored *Your Writer's Block Is Bullsh*t: Stop Fighting It, Start Writing It*, releasing 29 September.
- The book argues that waiting to feel ready to write may be the very thing keeping writers stuck, and encourages them to write despite fear rather than waiting for it to disappear.
- Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the authors take a compassionate approach to perfectionism and self-doubt, showing writers how to work alongside these feelings rather than trying to eliminate them.
- The authors admit they themselves avoided writing the book, using their own experience to illustrate that fear is a natural response when something matters, not a barrier that must be overcome first.
- At the heart of the book is the philosophy that confidence need not come before creativity - writers can begin with uncertainty, self-doubt, and fear all present, and still put words on the page.
A new book by an Australian psychologist and a professional ghostwriter reveals how writers can turn fear into a creative ally
Every writer knows the ritual: sit down at the blank page, stare at it for a while, check your email, make a coffee, scroll on your phone - suddenly, almost anything seems more urgent than writing. Then comes the promise: I will write when I feel ready.
Australian clinical psychologist Dr Vincent Fogliati and professional ghost writer Roger Joyce argue that waiting to feel ready may be exactly what is keeping writers stuck.
Their new book, releasing 29 September, Your Writer's Block Is Bullsh*t: Stop Fighting It, Start Writing It, takes a radically compassionate approach to one of the most familiar problems in a creative life. Rather than trying to eliminate fear, perfectionism and self-doubt, the authors show writers how to work alongside them and write anyway.
Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Fogliati applies psychological principles to the messy creative process, while Joyce brings decades of experience working as a professional writer and ghostwriter.
The authors begin with an admission that will be painfully familiar to their readers: they avoided writing this book themselves.
"We didn't write this book because we conquered fear," says Fogliati. "We wrote it because fear shows up when something matters. The goal isn't to make fear disappear. It's to stop letting fear make your decisions."
Joyce says that what writers call "block" is often an attempt to avoid the discomfort that comes with writing.
"Writer's block makes it sounds as though something has happened to you," he says. "But, often you're avoiding what might happen if you actually write. That is, being judged, failing or discovering the work isn't as good as you'd hoped."
At the heart of the book is a simple philosophy: show up with your mess.
The authors argue that confidence doesn't have to come first. Fear, self-doubt and uncertainty can all be present, and you can still put words on the page.
You don't have to wait until you feel ready. You just have to start.
