Six Great Ways to Dissolve Your Writer’s Block

Have you ever found yourself staring at the blinking cursor on your blank computer screen as it ticks away the seconds toward your looming deadline, but still can’t think of anything to write?  You’re not alone:  Writers block affects almost everyone from time to time, whether you’re young or old, an inexperienced newbie or an old pro.  Luckily, writer’s block has affected enough writers that people have come up with a number of different things that you can try to overcome it.  Some might not be what you would expect but when you’ve got a deadline looming you’re probably willing to give anything a try.  Here are some tips that we resort to when we just can’t seem to get things going.

1. Arrange an Impromptu Brainstorming Session:  Gather a small handful of your colleagues and start throwing ideas around.  They don’t have to be good ideas; the aim is to give you a shove in the right direction and the spontaneity of an impromptu group brainstorming session might just do the trick.
2. Just Start Writing:  Write about anything - what you had for breakfast, a conversation you had with a colleague, a list of groceries that you need to pick up on the way home or a to-do list for the weekend.  William Stafford, a poet, once wrote, “There is no such thing as writer’s block for writers whose standards are low enough.”  This is not to suggest that you should aim to lower your standards but if drivel is what it takes to get you going then bring it on!  A page of drivel can be shaped into something brilliant, but a blank sheet of paper will remain blank until you get over yourself and write something.
3. Stop Writing:  OK, didn’t we just tell you to start writing?  Now we’re suggesting you stop writing?  Do you wish we’d make up our minds?  At the other end of the spectrum is to not try and force the issue but to do something else that is totally unrelated to your writing assignment.  This takes a bit of guts – you’ve got a pressing deadline and we’re suggesting that you ignore the task at hand.  Actually, we’re confident in your subconscious’ ability to work on something while you’re focusing on something else.  Have you ever tried so hard to remember the name of an actor in a movie but you just can’t, and then while you’re brushing your teeth that night it comes to you?  That’s your subconscious at work.  Your subconscious is very powerful and if you leave it to wrestle with your writing assignment while you’re concentrating on something else you might be surprised with what you come up with.
4. Look for Fresh Surroundings:  Being stuck at the same desk in the same office looking at the same faces might not be the best way to stoke your creativity.  So change things up a bit by packing up and heading somewhere different.  Coffee shops are great places and many offer free Wi-Fi if you don’t want to totally be out of contact or if you need to look something up.  This article describes a recent study that concluded that the moderate ambient noise of a coffee shop enhanced subjects’ performance on a creative task.  Alternately, head to a park and watch the world go by - you just might find that your writer’s block starts to dissolve.
5. Jump Right Into the Middle:  If you’ve got an idea of the overall flow of what you have to produce, start somewhere apart from the beginning and just get going.  Chances are the pieces will start falling into place one at a time and once you’ve got some momentum revisiting that part that was stumping you won’t seem so helpless.  When we’re writing sales proposals, for example, we often start with the pricing section, one of the last sections of the proposal, and then work backwards.  Often the Executive Summary is one of the last pieces that we write even though it’s the first page of the document.
6. Get Moving:  As goes the body so goes the mind.  If you’re sitting at your computer screen and your brain is stalled, jump up and get active.  Go for a walk around the block, do some stretching, or throw a foam stress ball around with a couple of colleagues.  (Disclaimer: you didn’t get the idea here if you break something!)  Moving your body, particularly in a repetitive way, often gets your mind in action as well.

Writer’s block affects us all at one time or another and the more you try and pressure yourself into powering past it the more strangling it can become.  The points above will hopefully help motivate, energize and even distract you enough to make your writer’s block a thing of the past.

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Amanda Hartley, Managing Partner
Fering Communications Inc.
Website: www.feringcommunications.com
Email: amanda.hartley@feringcommunications.com