Unstuck: A Supportive and Practical Guide to Working Through Writer's Block [Paperback]

Jane Anne Staw (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312339801 | ISBN-13: 978-0312339807 | Publication Date: December 9, 2004

No one is immune to writer's block. From well-known novelists to students writing term papers, Ph.D. candidates, and associates in business and law firms, most anyone who writes has experienced either brief moments or longer periods when the words simply won't come.

Based on her experience as a writing coach and instructor--and before that, as a blocked writer for many years--Jane Anne Staw provides practical, effective strategies for overcoming this common yet vexing problem. Topics include: * handling anxiety and fear * carving out time and space to write * clearing out old beliefs and doubts * techniques to relax * managing expectations * experimenting with genre, voice, and subject matter * ending the struggle and regaining confidence and freedom by finding your true voice - and using it.

Unstuck uncovers the reasons why writers of all levels get blocked--from practical to emotional, and many in between--and offers concrete ways to get writing again, and to find an even deeper connection and more productivity on the page.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In a way [Unstuck] forces you to scrutinize yourself, the book is like a hard day at the therapist's office: You feel a little vulnerable, but ready to take the next step."
- San Francisco Weekly

"My book would not exist without Jane Anne Staw. She creatively, lovingly, and patiently guided me past my convoluted blocks. And she can do it for you. Unstuck will transform your relationship to your writing and wisely help free you into your true writing self."
--Susan G. Wooldridge, author of Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words

"Unstuck is filled with honesty, compassion, and a lyrical prose that leaves its indelible impressions on you long after you've put the book down. An overdue essential that will become every writer's companion."
--Regina Louise, author of Somebody's Someone

From the Inside Flap

"In a way [Unstuck] forces you to scrutinize yourself, the book is like a hard day at the therapist's office: You feel a little vulnerable, but ready to take the next step."
- San Francisco Weekly

Writers' Praise for Unstuck

"My book would not exist without Jane Anne Staw. She creatively, lovingly, and patiently guided me past my convoluted blocks. And she can do it for you. Unstuck will transform your relationship to your writing and wisely help free you into your true writing self."
- Susan G. Wooldridge, author of Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words "Unstuck is filled with honesty, compassion, and a lyrical prose that leaves its indelible impressions on you long after you've put the book down. An overdue essential that will become every writer's companion."
- Regina Louise, author of Somebody's Someone

"I would not have written my book were it not for Jane Anne Staw. Her ability to see what I was trying to say and do, and to understand me as a writer, made it possible for me to keep writing. Unstuck offers readers the same chance to benefit from her wisdom and experience "
- Susan P. Halpern, M.S.W., author of The Etiquette of Illness: What to Say When You Can't Find the Words

"Jane Anne Staw helped me find my voice, providing texture and context to my ideas. Once 'unstuck' myself, I wrote my second book in two months, and it will be published later this year. Unstuck will help writers learn to take risks and enjoy the writing process, as well as the results."
- Guy T. Saperstein, Civil Warrior: Memoirs of a Civil Rights Attorney

"Jane Anne Staw's honest, insightful techniques demystify the sometimes paralyzing experience of being a writer, while allowing the magic and mystery of the process to flourish. Unstuck offers all of this to you."
- Rebecca Di Liberto, M.F.A.candidate, Columbia University

"It may sound hyperbolic to say that working with Jane Anne Staw changed my life. But it's true. How did she help a 60-something psychiatrist-who knew all the reasons for his writer's block already-finally deliver? Read Unstuck, which explains both the complexity of the problem and the simplicity of the cure."
- Neal Bloomenfeld, M.D.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (December 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312339801
• ISBN-13: 978-0312339807
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Investigate your block, November 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Unstuck: A Supportive and Practical Guide to Working Through Writer's Block (Hardcover)

If you have been paralyzed with a phobia for the activity you love passionately-the one thing that you crave to do with all your heart and cannot; if you loathe and upbraid yourself for your paralysis, then UNSTUCK will talk to you. And keep talking. This author understands that blocked place intimately and compassionately, and this book has shown me how to investigate (not push away) the fear and resistance to writing. For me this book is not so much about "methods" and techniques," although it includes those supports. No, this book is about the broken heart of your talent, and the return to the impulse that begs you to write.

It's nice to have all those other writing books, like Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron. But they assume that you will be able to write given a creative prompt. They don't understand why you cannot write. I read K.Bright's review. I wonder if he/she perhaps has not been truly stuck. I didn't want or need novelty when I was blocked-I needed help. I highly recommend this kind and skillful book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best book addressing the subject, August 3, 2005

By 

S. C. Watson (WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unstuck: A Supportive and Practical Guide to Working Through Writer's Block (Paperback)

I've had a serious three year block and have tried desperately to get out of it. I had looked at several books about writer's block and all of them were feel-good garbage or throwaway 101 Tips to...

Staw's book is the best I found dealing with the subject. As one reviewer noted, it's difficult to even take time to read a self-help book, because you tend to feel that it's one more case of avoidance or procrastination and the hour it took to read could have been spent writing. But Staw has some salient, psychotherapy-based points about those feelings--guilt and avoidance. She emphasizes kindness to oneself instead of listening to the inner hypercritic, and while this might sound like feel-good nonsense, the way she writes about it makes sense and this technique pretty common in counseling. Her examples of patients experiencing writer's block range from mild to extreme--which made me feel better. This guide by no means got rid of my block, but in some ways it gave me (or allowed me to give myself) permission to write sloppily. There's no way I can write as well as I'd like to, certainly not while experiencing a block, and I feel that Staw really nails it when she points out how counterproductive this drive for perfection can be. I've since loosened up enough to start writing small things without caring so much about the outcome (these reviews for instance)--and it's been a pleasurable step in the right direction.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn how to practice deep compassion for your writer self, September 19, 2004

By 

Fiona Webster (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unstuck: A Supportive and Practical Guide to Working Through Writer's Block (Hardcover)

I got fired up about my writer's block a few months' ago,
and read several books on the subject, including some that
are out of print. This book is by far the best that I've
read. Jane Anne Staw teaches you how to get to know your
inner writer, how to be kind and compassionate toward that
person, and how to mobilize yourself into writing. I've
read the book three times now, each time getting more out
of it than the time before. I cannot recommend it more highly.
She uses examples from all kinds of writers--businessmen
writing memos, lawyers writing briefs, grad students writing
dissertations, you name it. Staw obviously has an active
practice of being a therapist for writers with writer's
block, and she shares the nuts-and-bolts ideas she uses
in that practice.