The Writer's Choice Paradox

Writing guidance on intimidating blank pages and how to overcome them

Writers, are you caught in the choice paradox?

Creative writing is a practice of freedom and autonomy. You get to say what you want to say, how you want to say it, and to whom.

While this freedom entices and inspires, it can also induce writer's paralysis. And paralysis often stops decision-making in its tracks.

Recently, I took my young daughter out for soft-serve, and we drove a town away to a shop with a massive board advertising 100 flavors. I (mistakenly) thought she'd be delighted with all the options.

The opposite was true: She was overwhelmed, immediately.

Too many flavors, too many toppings, just too many decisions to make. And there was a line forming behind us, which added pressure on her tiny shoulders. I could see her panic rising, her cheeks reddening.

We ended up stepping out of line and talking through what kind of sweet treat she was most interested in. Then, I narrowed down her choices to three, so she could finally pick one and feel good about it.

To avoid paralyzing yourself out of writing, narrowing down your own choices is a prudent decision.

Purpose Planning

Sitting down at a blank page and knowing there's a world of possibility in your pen is often a scary feeling as overwhelming as choosing from 100 soft-serve flavors on a hot day.

When you can write anything at all, it can be troublesome choosing just one thing to write. So nothing gets done.

Your book is your legacy, a physical piece of yourself you put into the world that persists long after your carbon bag expires. If you keep pushing off that book because of choice paralysis, you'll paralyze yourself right out of writing altogether. Words will be left unsaid, books left unwritten, messages unshared.

Thing is, when you get clear on your purpose for writing, clear on the message you want to share with your reader, making choices becomes easier, automatic even.

Being clear on your purpose for writing, though, isn't always easy. Sometimes we need to understand the story before we truly understand the why behind the story.

If you want to write and need help narrowing down your options, start with the message: What do you want to say to your reader?

Write down eight to twelve lessons or takeaways you wish to share with the reader and which you aim to include in your book.

After writing down those lessons, can you see your book taking shape?

Storytelling Deep Dive

If after writing down those reader-focused lessons, the book seems muddier than ever, hope is not totally lost. But it does mean that the shape of your book may be hidden from you in other ways.

How’s your confidence? How do you feel about your authority in your field? What limiting beliefs are you battling? And if you’ve tried working through your book in the past but nothing has seemed to work, what’s holding you back from putting up a white flag and signaling for help?

I know writing a book is a deeply personal experience. That’s precisely why it’s so important that you write your book. Nobody else can share your story quite the way you can. Nobody else has lived your life, learned all the same lessons you’ve learned, bested themselves in the artful way you did, leveled up and accomplished the thing.

But if you don’t write your story, nobody will get to hear it. What a damn shame!

A storytelling deep dive is a focused planning session to help you work through issues, make those critical decisions, and get beyond that blasted choice paralysis holding you back and stopping you from sharing your legacy with the waiting world.

We'll talk through the options, create order from your writerly chaos, and find the most logical path forward.

After one such session, a client shared the following:

“Fallon took the time to learn about my characters, knew exactly what questions to ask or things to suggest to create order out of my chaos, and made me feel at ease talking about a story that means quite a bit to me. I'm so glad I reached out to her for help because I came away feeling re-energized about my project and confident that I can finally get it down on paper.”

So, will you dive in and make order from your chaos?

Find your time here, and let’s get on with it.

♥ Fal