Writer's Block & how to overcome it

[Bobbie , Admin]

Please share your stories of writer's block and your remedies for it.

[Maria]

I don't think writer's block exists. I think sometimes you need to stop writing for a few days, just so that your mind can work better to create your story. So if you ever think you've got writer's block, just take a few days off, and everything will be fine. Another tip is to just carry on writing anyway, even if you think that what you are writing is rubbish, more often than not you will be able to go back and edit stuff you have written when you thought you had writer's block, and it will turn out to be something you are proud of.

[Jen]

That's a beautiful way of looking at things, Maria. I'm not going to write what I was now, because I was just going to say something about sulking until it's over, but this is far more optimistic :)

[Sharon]

Everything that Maria said. :-)

Another thing that helps is to work on something completely unrelated. I took on a freelance editing project and something about that very right-brain work jarred loose a jam in my left brain. I wrote 4000 words on my major WIP during that same time frame.

I do carry a composition book with me almost everywhere I go so that if a scene occurs to me I can write it out longhand and transcribe it into my MS. I am generally able to plug them in right where they belong but sometimes I will have something that will be a later section and then I type it in with some notes about it that remind me I need to come up with a transition.

[J.C.]

I don't really get writers block because typically, I'll have an outline of the story before I even start and pretty much know where I'm going with it.

With that's said, I do get "Writer's Fatigue", where I just don't feel like writing on that particular day and need to find something else to do for a little while before I get back at it.

[Kevin]

Maria is basically right. If you try to force yourself out of a "block" of any kind (this means musical, physical -i.e. sports-, educational, etc...), you will wind up producing a real crappy product.

Just stop what you are doing and do something else. Your brain will naturally reset.

[Nurture Your BOOKS™, Admin]

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I was under the mistaken impression that one could successfully push-through writer's block.

As with most things in life, it seems that a little break is just what the doctor ordered. :-)