From the Productive Indie Fiction Writer:
The Box Is the Point
Or: Why Struggling Is Actually Great News for Your Creativity
We all dream of freedom. Time freedom, creative freedom, financial freedom, location freedom—whatever kind you like, you can find a planner or a guru promising you just that.
But here’s the thing: freedom doesn’t make you creative. Constraints do.
Dr. Seuss—real name Theodor Geisel—bet his editor he could write a children’s book using only 50 words. The result? Green Eggs and Ham, one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. You could argue that its creative genius came directly from its limitations.
This is not an isolated fluke. Donald Maass, in his 2018 Writer Unboxed post “The Reason to Build a Box”, points out that constraints force writers to think more deeply, explore more unexpected angles, and generate more interesting work. “Think inside the box,” he says. The tighter the walls, the more pressure—and pressure, as we know, makes diamonds. Or books with green meat.
Now contrast that with a story from Mark Manson (yes, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck guy). After ten years of grinding, he hit the top of the charts—number one everywhere. And then? He sat around playing video games for weeks. It wasn’t that he was lazy or entitled. He was just… done. He’d reached the summit. There was nothing to push against. No new mountain. No box. And, as he later admitted, it was kind of miserable.
The creative life is weird like that. We think we’ll be happy once we “arrive”—full-time income, book deals, bestseller lists—but the real joy lives in the middle of the climb. In the striving. In the friction. In the constraints.
Because struggling to write a novel in a month, or within a genre’s tropes, or while juggling a job and kids and carpool—that’s not what’s stopping you from being creative. That’s the engine of your creativity.
So the next time you feel boxed in, squashed for time, stuck with your outline, or annoyed at your word count goal—congratulations. You’re doing it right.
The box isn’t the enemy.
The box is the point.
When the Box Is Crushing You: Creative Pressure Valves for Indie Authors
But what if the box feels too tight?
Sometimes, the pressure that should spark creativity just smothers it. You sit down to write and all that comes out is static. Or worse—nothing at all. If that’s where you are today (hello, fellow human), here are a few ways to let a little air back into the box:
1. Journal the hell out of it
Stream-of-consciousness, handwritten, swearing-encouraged venting. No structure, no goals, no one will ever see it. It clears mental gunk like nothing else.
2. Move your body
Yes, really. A brisk walk, ten jumping jacks, five minutes on the treadmill. It’s not just stress relief—it literally helps your brain connect ideas faster. Writing is physical work too, even if your butt’s in a chair.
3. Lean into the chaos
Deep breath. Accept that today, the universe has decided to be extra. Write anyway. Bad words. Awkward scenes. Gloriously terrible metaphors. You’re not here to be perfect. You’re here to show up.
4. Set a stupidly small goal
Can you write one sentence? One paragraph? One five-minute sprint? Do that. Then stop. That counts. That’s a win. You don’t have to climb the mountain today—just kick a rock a little further uphill.
5. Go back to your why
Why this book? Why did you want to write it in the first place? Reconnecting with your “why” gives the struggle meaning. It turns the box back into a creative container instead of a trap.
Feeling stuck doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means you’re in it.
The struggle isn’t a sign to quit. It’s a sign that you’re a writer.
And even five minutes of writing today?
That’s a victory.
Tracy Cooper-Posey
SRP Author and owner of The Productive Indie Fiction Writer
