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Five Ways to End That Writer’s Block

Posted on June 14th, 2010 in Writing by Jimmy Shilaho
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Dealing with a writer’s block is not easy especially for inexperienced writers. It takes a strong will to come out of this agonizing period more stronger and more creative. Here are five ways to deal with your writer’s block.

You stare on that blank page until you sweat. Words are not forming, that novel, that story, that poem, that article is not moving, you are stuck, but you know you must complete it, publish it or be damned. You aren’t a writer when you are not writing, you know you must put words on paper, you must write something, but what you are writing isn’t good enough, what you are writing wont go places. What happens?

Some writers are inspired by alcohol or by smoking a cigarette or two. A friend of mine even confessed to abusing marijuana just to bring his writers block to an end. Do you need to drink yourself silly so as to write? Do you need to smoke your lungs black just to say what you really must say? I don’t think so.

A writer’s block is not a sign of waning creativity; it isn’t a sign of lacking anything worthwhile to write. It only shows that there is a distraction and until this distraction is dealt with, writing something quality wont just happen out of the blue. A writer’s block is just a symptom of an underlying problem. Only dealing with that underlying issue will cure you. What then should you do?

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a)      Search for solitude – Experience has shown me that the best way to deal with most distractions is being alone. When you want to write and write well, please move away from the crowd, its one of the greatest threat to creativity. Being always surrounded by friends and family from dawn to dusk actually kills creativity.

b)      Beware of television – Watching too much television is associated with a dip in creativity. Never try to write while watching your favorite program. Watch TV as much as you can, but shut it up or simply go away when you want to write something meaningful. If you keep your eyes glued to television, you will merely regurgitate what was on TV.

c)      Meditation – Just take your time to think and think deeply. Writing requires no rushing. If you are in a hurry to finish that article, that story, or that novel and publish as fast as you can, be sure of one thing, its quality will be questionable. Take time to think deeply about what you want to write. Thought drives writing. Without quality thought, quality writing is hard to come by.

d)      Reading other writers – I am yet to come across serious writers who don’t read at all. For you to write great literature, for you to write good articles, stories and novels, you must read other writers. If the only things you read are comments people write on your articles, finding inspiration to write may be hard to come by and that will make you descend into a terrible block.

e)      Do not be desperate to publish – There are writers who show all signs of desperation by posting hurriedly done stuff because they want to publish something at all costs. Be sure to fall into lengthy periods of a writer’s block after hurriedly posting such stuff. Take your time and post stuff that will inspire you to write again.

There you are, do not say no one warned you. Writing is harder than digging trenches. It is not for the faint hearted. If you are not ready to give it your best, do not lose your sleep over it. Try something else that might be easier. Good luck my friend.

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