One Thursday in 2017, my arm began to hurt.

Instantly I assumed the worst: I must have torn something, probably during silks practice. I put on a sling and refused to lift even a pen.

The pain worsened. So, days later, I called my chiropractor to book an appointment.

“What does it feel like?” he asked.

“Sometimes it’s in my bicep, but then it moves to my forearm–” I began.

He cut me off:

“It’s a nerve. Cervical spine. Do you have your foam roller? Use it. Fifteen minutes, three times a day.”

I did, and within a day, the pain was gone.

*

This is not a medical post.

This is, of course, a story about writing.

When we’re writing – a chapter, an article, a LinkedIn post – we may encounter a trouble spot. Something’s not gelling. Or we hit a dead end – the dreaded writer’s block.

Most of us will stop and obsess over that exact spot. The sentence, the paragraph, the page – we believe if we just swap in better words, or move some commas around, it’ll fix the problem.

But the site of the problem is often not the source.

My “arm injury” was not an arm injury at all. The pain showed up in my arm, but the source was my cervical spine (my neck).

In creative writing, the problem we encounter is often a symptom of a deeper issue.

My chiro recognized the symptoms and spotted the issue immediately.

A trained and talented writer can do that, too. I.e., they can spot the source.

I’ll give you a writing example:

In my first novel, I spent months working and reworking the climax. But it just kept falling flat. I attacked it with all my writing tools – everything my MFA had taught – show not tell, cutting out description, Chekhov’s gun, etc.

Then one day, I read an article about the importance of the villain.

A novel needs a clear antagonist, with rock-solid motives.

Suddenly I realized: I hadn’t developed my villain enough.

He had weak motives. And while I could ignore that for a couple hundred pages, I had to face it during the climax.

So I went back to the source – the first couple chapters. I made the villain’s motives stronger, and the site of the problem – the climax – now flowed.

*

MFA workshops are filled with writers telling you, “This section is confusing,” “There’s too much description,” or “You don’t need this scene. Cut it.”

MFA workshops are notoriously useless.

But they’re only useless if you don’t know about sites and sources.

Other writers love pointing out the parts of your writing they don’t like.

Those are your sites.

The real skill comes in learning to identify the source.

You can do this by:

✅ Learning the rules of story
✅ Reading a ton, and observing how the rules of story play out
✅ Practice, practice, practice
✅ Getting thoughtful feedback on your work
✅ Working with a really good ghostwriter / book coach

What do you think, have you ever experienced this?

If you could use some structure and guidance as you write your memoir or business book, follow me on LinkedIn for regular writing tips, and/or schedule a half-hour consultation with me. I’d love to see where your ideas will take you.