On the Writing Struggle Bus

I was just talking to a writer friend about how I’m having so much difficulty writing the penultimate episode of Girl In Space.

She made a comment along the lines of, “Wow, writer’s block really sucks…” which hit me like a (please forgive the cliche… I’m trying to save my creative energies for the penultimate episode) pile of bricks.

Because I LITERALLY just gave a talk about how there is no such thing as writer’s block. About how creativity begets creativity, how possibilities are eternal and infinite, yadda yadda yadda.

With all that fresh in mind, I know I’m to blame here… not some mystic force that is keeping me from writing. I just don’t know whether it’s my uncertainty or doubt or fear or frustration or mis-aligned expectations or [fill in the blank].

I currently have EIGHT (8) wildly different drafts of the penultimate episode, and each one has little bits and pieces in it that I like, but I’m not sure how to thread them all together into a cohesive whole. Because all the mismatched puzzle pieces in the world won’t make a cohesive puzzle.

I know I need to “kill my darlings”, but I’m overwhelmed by the number of darlings I have to kill. Like, we’re talking mass murder. GALLONS OF RED INK.

I’m on day three (3) of fretting over this thing, and when I asked her for advice, my friend suggested the next step is to take a break. But the pressure to finish keeps rising…

What do you think? Is this writer’s block? What should I do?