It’s widely acknowledged that there’s great therapeutic value in writing - many people write to find out what they think about the world, or, as Chuck Palahuniuk puts it, to use writing as ‘a tool to resolve psychologically what you can’t resolve physically’.
Yet, despite these benefits, there are psychological barriers to writing. The enormity of the task, which in the thrilling early stages of writing might feel manageable, gradually reveals itself as a significant obstacle. It requires resilience and time to overcome - to persevere and get that draft finished, and for this reason, many people with the talent to write a novel so often give up.
