How You Can Defeat Writer’s Block
Writer’s block is easier to overcome than you think.
The words become a blur as you stare blankly at the screen. No words come to mind and your muse goes AWOL. All of a sudden your brain gets stuck in the wrong gear and then you can’t be bothered to write anything else. You become frustrated and begin to question why you even bothered to start writing it in the first place.
Sound familiar? You, my friend, have writer’s block. Every single writer will experience this counter-productive feeling a few times in the course of their writing career (and they’re lying if they say they never have).
Luckily, writer’s block is incredibly easy to defeat, even though it doesn’t feel like it.
Be creative
Try to do something else that is creative in order to stimulate the part of your brain that is responsible for creativity. This could provide the spark you need to get that writing engine going again. You could paint a picture, draw something, colour a couple of pages in a grown-up’s colouring book, make something in Photoshop and so on.
Do some freewriting
Set a timer or alarm for anything between ten and twenty minutes. Until the timer ends, write down everything that comes to mind. Absolutely everything from the top of your head without even thinking about it, no matter how small or ridiculous it is. Ignore punctuation, grammar and spelling. Just write freely and openly. This can help in two ways — first of all, it is helping to jump-start your creativity. Second of all, you might find yourself writing something that turns out to be a great idea for either your current writing project or one for the future.
Spend time with an animal
Those nerds who wear white coats and (probably) sit in a laboratory playing Dungeons & Dragons for most of the day have discovered that people who have a pet are generally happier, healthier and more productive. [1] [2]
Spending some time with an animal will help to dispel that negative feeling of being frustrated with your writing. For those who don’t have pets, look for nature out of the window to observe or watch videos of animals on YouTube. For those who do, stroke and talk to your animal buddy. If you have a dog, take it for a walk. If you have a cat, listen to the purrs. If you have a bird, hear it sing. If you have a rabbit, watch it nibble a carrot. If you have a stick insect, erm… … Anyway moving on.
Be active
As a writer, you most likely spend most of your working hours sitting down. This means your circulation system probably isn’t the best in the world and that your brain probably isn’t getting as much oxygen (or tea) as it should be in order to operate at a highly demanding level. Having an exercise device of some sort in your home or office is a good way to not only loosen some of that frustration that comes with writer’s block, but it’ll also improve your blood circulation, hence allowing the brain to get a better supply of oxygen and tea.
Going for a walk, having a quick jog, riding a bike and doing aerobics in your living room are good ways to get active. It’s a good idea to try to do some exercises which use your legs, as you’d likely to be sitting down a lot while writing.
Read short stories
You’ve probably heard a million times by now that in order to be a good writer you have to be a good reader.
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” - Stephen King
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” - Stephen King
Pick up (or download, as the kids say these days) an anthology or a book of short stories and read one or two of the short stories within them. I’m recommending short stories to help unclog writer’s block because with a full-length novel you can get lost in it and forget that you’re supposed to be writing. The short stories could provide you with inspiration to continue writing your own.
“A short story is a different thing altogether — a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.” - Stephen King (again)
Yes, I know, I’ve quoted Stephen King three times under this header. It’s not my fault that he’s a god of literature.
Have a nap
Sometimes your writer’s block is due to tiredness. Believe it or not, writers are constantly using their brains and can, as a result of that, become mentally exhausted just the same as, say, a labourer might become physically exhausted. The best way to resolve this is to sleep and allow the majority of your brain to have some downtime. A one or a two-hour nap might get things rolling again like a charm.
Stuff your face with chocolate
Chocolate causes the brain to release chemicals called endorphins, which are known to relieve stress and cause feelings of happiness. The darker the chocolate is, the better it is at causing the brain to release the endorphins. This will help release any stresses that you might have about your project and make you a happier person, for a while at least.
Other ways to get the brain to release endorphins is to consume ginseng, spend time with someone you really love, and, perhaps most surprisingly, eat something spicy.
There we have it, you now have the tools you need to conquer your writer’s block. So go on then off you pop, your project isn’t going to write itself, is it?
