Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for stuck.
Settle an internal dispute with me: In the board game Candyland, who remembers getting stuck in the Molasses Swamp for ages and ages until you finally drew a double color?
If you aren't familiar, the game board is comprised of a rainbow paneled road that snakes its way through the various domains of Candyland. Each player draws a card that tells them which color to move to next, and a few of those squares have special instructions on them.
Sometimes you'd land on a square that would take you back to another domain far down below or way up ahead, and sometimes you'd land on a bridge to skip you up further.
And the Molasses Swamp was placed just before the final domain. If you made it passed there without getting stuck, you were basically home free.
Only, when I got an updated version for my kids, it wasn't just the graphics that had changed over the years. The dreaded Molasses Swamp square had turned into a simple “Lose One Turn.”
Now, it's very possible that my family or friends or even I had made up some kind of masochistic house rule in order to make the game more difficult.
But it seems so clear in my mind: if you were stuck in the Molasses Swamp, you were stuck-stuck.
I would love to hear from you if you have any recollection of this game.
More importantly, I would love to hear from if you feel stuck-stuck on your book.
Often, authors think about the finish line of a book project as the publishing date, and the Molasses Swamp as the spot where they have to stop until they can get it edited.
In reality, there are lots of finish lines worth celebrating along the way, each with their own potential sticking points.
Yes, before publishing, there is editing.
But before that, there's the realization that multiple levels of editing are likely necessary, and that some of them may send you back down the board for more development.
And before you think about editing, you'll have to have a full draft that you're ready to share.
Before you feel ready to share, you'll have to get to that full draft.
And before you get it all drafted, you'll have to…well, draft.
While most authors know that they don't know what the steps of publishing entail and have so many questions about every little step of that process—they tend to see everything that comes before publishing as one single board game with just two domains: writing and editing.
Advance along the board with discipline, accountability, drive, and maybe a coach who can push you along.
In this version of the game, there are no roadblocks, no jump-ahead shortcuts, no pitfalls, no double color cards.
If you're not moving, you're not trying.
The reality of writing—particularly when you're writing for change, and definitely when you're writing as a non-writer—is that each of us has our own version of the game with its own wins and sticky swamps.
And after all these years, I feel like I've seen every iteration of the board that there could be, and I even have extra cards I can slip you to help you make your way out.
But somehow, countless authors are still out here playing by the house rules that say “hustle until hiring an editor.”
Talk about masochistic.
Here are some Molasses Swamps that have nothing to do with hustle, procrastination, making time, or just sitting down long enough to figure it out:
Someone gave you advice that sounded good at the time but isn't working in practice.
The book isn't currently aligned to the work that matters most to you, and that work takes precedence.
The type of book you're writing feels undefinable, and the resources for defined books keep throwing you off course.
There's another type of book that would flow better, but something has you attached to the one you've been working toward.
Publishing the book would come with changes you have to reckon with.
You've been writing to an audience, and that bigness is overwhelming, to say the least.
You've been writing as an AuthorTM and that mask is starting to wear thin.
There's a hidden internal block that makes writing or publishing feel unsafe.
There’s something you have to name.
There's something you have to face.
There's something you have to learn.
There’s support you didn’t know you could access.
The thing is, I can turn to the internet to figure out if the Molasses Swamp has been changed in the last few decades.
But you can't Google your way out of that kind of stuck.
For every bit of advice out there that says writers just write, there's a writer turning their very solvable problem into a swampy source of guilt and shame and unnecessary discomfort.
Even worse, they have no idea how close they are to their next finish line.
For my authors who have gotten unstuck: Celebrate that win.
Enjoy the next round.
Know that the next swamp is on its way again but that we can get out of it just like we did the first or second or third time.
For my authors who are still feeling stuck: The good news about house rules is that they can be changed whenever we want.
So, no more guilt trips or grinding it out. Let's figure out why you've been stuck, get you on a different path—one that isn't designed to trip you up—and make sure you have the cards you need to play.
And I do mean play.
If your book isn't going to leave you alone, and you know it's worth every last step you've taken to get this far, something powerful is emerging from the powerful experiences, expertise, and exploration that you've already done.
This should be fun.
It should light you up.
It should feel like play.
Stuck is just part of the game.
And the next finish line is right around the corner.
Hey, thanks for creating this space with me today.
Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you're already doing it.
Be sure to subscribe to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.
And so will I.
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