When I get stuck, I stop trying to write. I don’t think I’ve ever been happy with words that came out forced. When I was a baby writer I thought it was some sort of artistic failing not to be writing all the time. But now I know there will be days when the work feels stale or I’m just pulled to do something else. During those moments, I give myself a break and return to other things I love or low-stake activities—like going for an aimless walk, watching trash entertainment television, sitting at a café window to people-watch. All of these allow me to be in the world without the pressure to produce. And sometimes I just do nothing; I don’t even think of myself as being stuck. Rather, I’m living my life in other ways.
When I’ve given myself enough of a break, almost invariably, then I must write. At that point, not doing so is like punishment. What I write then feels fresh and inspired. And this sense of renewed hope in the work helps me to keep going.
—Olufunke Grace Bankole, author of The Edge of Water (Tin House Books, 2025)
Photo credit: Malak Yassin