5 Strategies to Overcome Writer’s Block

Imagine this scene . . .

It’s ten in the morning. A woman sits at her desk with a cup of tea. She turns on her computer and opens a Word document. With fingers hovering over the keyboard, she ponders what to type. Just an hour or so earlier, all sorts of ideas had floated through her mind while she showered. But as she stares at the screen, her mind goes blank.

Sound familiar?

Of course, it does.

Writer’s block is the enemy of many well-intentioned writers. It turns the most fantastic ideas into mush. The slightest distraction can catapult us out of our chair. 

For some, this may be a sign that they have nothing important to say, while for others, it may lead to procrastination. Either way, the work doesn’t get done.  

Writer’s block affects me whenever I’m not regularly engaged in my writing practice —  a combination of morning pages and 30-minute free writes, either longhand in a journal or on the computer. I would love to say it’s something I do every day, but it isn’t. Life happens. But if a week or more passes, I struggle to get words on the page. 

The first step I take to combat writer’s block is to return to the basics of my writing practice. It may start with pages of me processing or, more accurately, complaining about some aspect of my life. But after a few days of consistent writing, the grumbling turns to something deeper and more interesting. It’s as if my writing brain and creativity are better prepared to tackle whatever project I’m currently working on. Establishing a personal writing practice doesn’t have to look like mine or anyone else’s. What’s important is that you find time to write regularly. 

“I don’t sit around waiting for passion to strike me. I keep working steadily, because I believe it is our privilege as humans to keep making things. Most of all, I keep working because I trust that creativity is always trying to find me, even when I have lost sight of it.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Another essential step in overcoming writer’s block is to stay in the chair. Commit to writing for a specified amount of time. That means keeping your bottom in the chair no matter how much you want to bolt. Set the timer. Record the thoughts running through your mind. Even if you think, I don’t want to be sitting in this chair writing, write that. Many of my stories and essays have started with some variation of the following sentence: I have no idea what to write or how to start this. Nonetheless, the piece will take shape as I type out my thoughts. By the time the timer goes off, I’m well into writing.

Read broadly and regularly. Reading is essential to our work as writers. In Stephen King’s memoir on craft, ON WRITING, he says, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.” Read the genre you want to write. Read for fun or out of curiosity. It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you read. Make a note of your thoughts while reading by annotating. Write questions that come to mind. Respond to the author’s ideas in the margins. Expand on those ideas in your writing.

Visit an art gallery or museum. Wander through the galleries, paying close attention to what speaks to you and why. Take a photo of those pieces and their descriptions to use as writing prompts later. Philip Pearlstein’s etching “Models with Mirror,” which I saw at the Tampa Museum of Art, inspired me to write a short story called “The Muse.” Other trips to museums have inspired essays and blogs. 

Be willing to write a shitty first draft. “Shitty first drafts” is my favorite chapter of Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD. It taught me to get over myself and just write. Allow yourself to get the words down; then, you can clearly see what the piece is supposed to be. The real work of writing has always been in revision. That’s where you craft the piece into what it’s meant to be.

Writer’s block doesn’t have to win. Hold yourself accountable by incorporating one or all of these steps. It may also help to share your writing intention with another person or, better yet, several people. Join a writer’s group. Sign up for a MINERVA WRITES generative writing session. My first novel happened ten pages at a time because I didn’t want to let down the members of my writing group. It also helped that one of the members sent frequent emails reminding me of the importance of getting my work done. 

Get back in the chair and back to work. The world needs your story. 

author – Kim ?