Beat Writer’s Block

Inspiration can come in so many forms and from the most unlikely places. So, in theory at least, it is not that difficult to find something to kick-start your thought-processes.

Keep A Notebook

Perhaps the best way for me to beat writer’s block is keeping a hardback A4 notebook on the go. Always. I have done this for years and could not live without one. I’m worse than a child with a comfort blanket. It’s that important.

While there are times when I don’t even look at it for a few days because of commitments, it’s never far from my thoughts (and always close to hand).

I think having a book like this really helps, mainly because having it makes me focus (even subconsciously) on observing and absorbing the funniest and most interesting bits from life which can possibly enhance any one of my writing projects. I use the book in several ways:

To Record Interesting Quotes/Characters/Ideas “On The Hoof”

Whenever I come across something that amuses me, be it a snippet of a conversation, a joke, an interesting or amusing character I see while I’m out, I make a note of it or him or her. I might not look at it again for a long time or, more often than not, I might not know how I will use it.

But the important thing here is that I have a little nugget that may be useful in the future. And it is on a page so it won’t be lost for ever. And what’s more, it can be categorized. I can then forget it if I choose to.

Or perhaps, if I’m lucky, that nugget might fit perfectly into a project I’ve got on the go at the time. It might be the one thing I need or have been looking for to unlock a literary door or two.

To Record Ideas Which Have Been On My Mind For Days, Weeks Or Even Months

I like to spend some quality “me” time occasionally, usually late at night when the family are asleep and the phone won’t ring and there won’t be any knocks on the door. Only then can I really and truly switch off. So then I empty my mind of all the ideas and dominating thoughts which have been rattling around – even subconsciously – since I last spent time in this way.

As A Diary Or “Hard Copy Blog” (But Much More Personal Than I Would Post Online)

I honestly think I need to dump stuff from my mind into a note book on a regular basis to avoid going insane. Do you need to write as opposed to want to write? Same here, and there is a difference between the two.

Some of those “most interesting bits from life” which I mentioned earlier have included some pretty heavy stuff in my personal life. They were not fun to live through and I certainly don’t want to go through them again. I’m not looking for sympathy here. I just want to point out that I’m glad I did live through those experiences because they can only enrich my writing and me as a person.

Apart from the books (which I intend to keep and give to my children, if they want them), there are lots of other ways I get ideas. Here’s a list of the main ones:

1. Go somewhere different. Do you like to be in the countryside or an urban setting? Where are you most comfortable? Where are you happiest? Which places do you, dare I ask, find inspiring?
2. Meet someone new. What is that person’s most remarkable feature?
3. Try something for the first time. What does it make you think of?
4. Get out of your comfort zones. Doing this makes you think differently about things. Big things.
5. Get focused on only one or two projects (one, ideally)
6. Watch something that has inspired you in the past. A favorite film, perhaps.
7. Listen to music that you will enjoy but do not have memories (good or bad) attached to. This makes my mind wander. I listen to good music – always up tempo – and I just enjoy and drift (and relax). When I start thinking about something different, I pick up my pen and away I go.

Those are the ways I try and get ideas. And when I think of something, the very next thing I do is this: I consider how it might fit into my main project.

If it fits, I develop it, expand on it. If it does not fit, but I like the idea and don’t want to forget it or lose it, I simply write it in the book as one for the future. It’s not a particularly sophisticated idea, I’ll admit, but it works for me.