Ten Easy Ways to Fight Writer’s Block
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Write hard and clear about what hurts. — Ernest Hemingway
While struggling with my own writer’s block, I reached out to my followers asking what I should write. Though I did end up writing something else, everyone wanted me to write about writer’s block. This was my favorite suggestion: to make a list of helpful ways I fight it. Since I feel stuck a lot, here are some simple ways I try to fight my resistance to just sitting down and doing it.
I hope it helps.
1. Stop trying to write:
Some people think you should fight through it and force yourself to write when you don’t feel like it or when nothing is coming to you. This doesn’t always work for me. Often, I feel the call to write at strange times when I’m focused on other things. That’s when I suddenly feel like, I need to write now! Sometimes the trying gets in the way of being creative. Get up and do something else. Go for a walk. Do something physical. Make some coffee. (Coffee is not optional if you want to be a writer, by the way). Often creativity works in a reverse psychology manner. If you feel you have to do something, your inner child doesn’t wanna do it. So, tell your inner child, You can’t write, and suddenly she will say, But I wanna!
2. Get inspiration elsewhere:
I often write about songs I’m listening to, because I find music really inspiring. If I see someone else expressing themselves in an authentic way, it inspires me to do the same. So, listen to a song or watch a great film. Inspiration can always jump from genre to genre, so find something that’s not what you do, and see where it takes you.
3. Read something:
I find reading something else also helpful. But not necessarily something similar to what you write. I like reading the paper, because it’s the opposite of what I enjoy writing.Sometimes it’s also helpful to just take random phrases out of context and meditate on that. Like, try to just read the headlines and not the whole article, and see if the words alone out of context remind you of something more personal or relevant to you.
4. Call someone:
Writers tend to isolate and not talk to a lot of people. But sometimes we can live a little too much in our…
