As a content writer, and a reporter in a previous life, I have been writing every day for quite some time. It’s an interesting way to make a living, to say the least. It is often rewarding, almost always interesting, but occasionally it can be a little maddening. Especially on those rare occasions you have to deal with writer’s block.
I wish I could tell you that writer’s block goes away with time, but that’s unfortunately not the case. Yet despite the fact it will never stop being a problem, it does get significantly easier to deal with; especially if you figure out some strategies for defeating this age old problem.
However, I’m sure you’re not interested in learning strategies as you go; you want to know how to deal with this problem now. Well, lucky for you, I am here to share some of my tips and tricks for beating that dreaded writer’s block:
Don’t fight it
When you feel writer’s block coming on, you might be tempted to resist it, like a small child desperately trying to stay awake while their eyelids droop and start to close. My advice? Don’t. Just accept the fact writer’s block is coming and deal with it. Trying to soldier on is a waste of time and is just going to make it last longer.
Walk away
You might be tempted to force yourself to stay at the keyboard and keep trying to write, but that rarely works out well. Your brain is stubborn, and once it’s decided you aren’t going to write, guess what? Your brain will make it so. Therefore, I advise you to embrace the writer’s block and simply get up and walk away from the computer.
Do something, anything that isn’t related to your writing. Take a walk to the corner store and buy a candy bar. Browse Facebook or Twitter for a little while. Check on your fantasy football team. Take your lunch break. It really doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure you step away from your work. And it’s best if your little excursion involves something you enjoy doing or that will put a smile on your face; a loose, happy brain is a much more relaxed, and therefore creative, brain.
Then, after a short amount of time away (don’t be gone for an hour or anything), sit back down at the keyboard and give it another shot. I can bet this will work – it’s worked for me more times than I can remember.
Work on something else
If your brief respite didn’t get the creative juices flowing, then my next piece of advice is to work on something else. Undoubtedly, you have other projects that need your attention, and now is the time to focus on them. People have a tendency to become so wrapped up in their problems that they can’t think of anything else. This is disastrous when it comes to writer’s block, because the more you think about it, the harder it becomes to formulate ideas, sentences and even individual words. Work on your side projects until you’ve forgotten completely about your writer’s block, then take another crack at it. If you successfully removed your writing problems from your brain, even just for a few minutes, then you should now have a fresh perspective on the whole thing and be ready to write.
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