Jeff Michaels
I recently came across a post from a new author looking for advice on what to do when she was struggling to complete a writing project and nothing she did seemed to help her. Other writers cheerful chimed in with, “oh, you’ve got Writer’s Block”, and offered their solutions to help stimulate her creative juices. None seemed to work.
I don’t believe in Writer’s Block, hence why I refer to it as a ghost. It’s an apparation—if you will. And a scary one at that, if you allow it to actually take on a shape and form of its own.
(You know, like a ghost.)
My suggestions to help get her back on track are below, and are what I’ve always done. This might seem simple, but it works.
1. Set a deadline. Writing without a deadline is not really writing. It’s brainstorming. Learn the difference.
2. Distance yourself from your writing. You must allow yourself time away from writing for the magic to happen. This is Writing 101. Go for a run. Play tennis. Eat ice cream. Watch TV. Masturbate. Do whatever you need to do to get your mind completely off your writing.
3. Focus. When you do return to your writing, make sure you remove ALL distractions. No Facebook. No phones. No kids. No dogs.
4. Allow your thoughts to flow through you and when that tiny voice pops up that says this isn’t good, or this isn’t right, or you’ll never finish in time, do your best to ignore it.
5. Finish your assignment on time.
You’ll soon see that number five is not a difficult step at all. No matter what time you give yourself to complete your project (providing it’s realistic and you’re not trying to crank out a novel in two days), you will finish the job. Time is a funny thing. Play around with it. Use it to your advantage.
As for Writer’s Block? If you follow all of the above and find you really can’t write something down, no matter how much time you spend staring at the screen, chances are it’s probably not worth being written.
I don’t believe in Writer’s Block, hence why I refer to it as a ghost. It’s an apparation—if you will. And a scary one at that, if you allow it to actually take on a shape and form of its own.
(You know, like a ghost.)
My suggestions to help get her back on track are below, and are what I’ve always done. This might seem simple, but it works.
1. Set a deadline. Writing without a deadline is not really writing. It’s brainstorming. Learn the difference.
2. Distance yourself from your writing. You must allow yourself time away from writing for the magic to happen. This is Writing 101. Go for a run. Play tennis. Eat ice cream. Watch TV. Masturbate. Do whatever you need to do to get your mind completely off your writing.
3. Focus. When you do return to your writing, make sure you remove ALL distractions. No Facebook. No phones. No kids. No dogs.
4. Allow your thoughts to flow through you and when that tiny voice pops up that says this isn’t good, or this isn’t right, or you’ll never finish in time, do your best to ignore it.
5. Finish your assignment on time.
You’ll soon see that number five is not a difficult step at all. No matter what time you give yourself to complete your project (providing it’s realistic and you’re not trying to crank out a novel in two days), you will finish the job. Time is a funny thing. Play around with it. Use it to your advantage.
As for Writer’s Block? If you follow all of the above and find you really can’t write something down, no matter how much time you spend staring at the screen, chances are it’s probably not worth being written.
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