7 Tips For Beating Writer’s Block

1.

Just start typing.

Type what you’re wearing- in my case, an unusually nice sweater-shirt with stripes I got on sale- or anything. Anything. Because once you have something down, momentum takes over. Maybe you care where I was when I got this shirt. Maybe you don’t. Maybe I do. Maybe I’ll start to tell the story and I’ll start lying, taking a pivot into another direction.

The point is, writing is a little like digging. Waiting for inspiration isn’t as effective as working a little bit for it. Write anything and see if it helps.

2.

Zone out.

Stop thinking. Minimize your internet. Get into your zone of writing by getting out of all your other zones, whatever they may be. Internet distractions, for one. But writing should be a form of meditation. It should be something you do to the exclusion of other things. Something done for its own sake.

The moment you question it you’re in trouble. The moment you try to aim it, you’re in trouble. You do it and you shape it after. But thinking is itchy to the writer. Or at least to me- who knows, I may be a different sort of writer than you are.

But for me, for now, I zone.

3.

Work at it.

This is your sport, right? This is what you do, what you’re made for despite all the odds? Well, there’s competition. Hit the gym- the word document gym- and fucking struggle. Struggle makes you stronger. And the more willing you are to struggle the better of a writer that struggle will make you.

It may feel like annoying flailing, but it’s the cost of moving uphill that whittles out the pretenders. Persevere.

4.

You have to want to do it.

Not to want to have it done; that’s not what I mean. Not wanting the perks of considering yourself a writer; that’s lame too. God forbid you’re writing for money: I can think of a thousand quicker ways to get money.

No. You have to write to write. It’s as easy as that, or perhaps just as difficult.

If you’re unproductive from procrastinating, you have to find the root of that procrastination. Do you not want to do it? That’s natural. It’s not just being lazy. Are you stuck? Nervous? Bored?

If you’re in a self-motivated field, you have to find that motivation. It’s wildly difficult, especially in a vague field. Months of writing may prove fruitless. A great idea found one night may be more valuable than weeks of struggling. You may put together a fantastic novel after 14 months of love and labor and just not sell it.

It’s insane and bad. But if you lose your spark you’ll slow and stop.

Prize your passion.

5.

Know when to hold them and when to fold them.

If your piece or mood is dead, release yourself. There’s no sense in milking a stone.

I’ve been telling you how to get through writers block. Some of these things may help. But there’s no sense in revving an engine that can’t run. Maybe you’re too tired, or too burnt out, or even too bored or hungry.

If this isn’t the time, it isn’t the time. Writing is work, and nobody can work 24/7.

6.

Switch it up.

In today’s fast-paced environment (blah blah blah; doesn’t that sounds like writer copy?) it can be easy to get distracted. I’ve been distracted about five times while writing this. We have the internet and we have fast, stupid, ugly minds. And writing is slow, smart and beautiful.

How do we line those up?

Simple. Or simple enough. Switch it up. Find pockets of quiet. Read and write. And, when you itch through that peace, find a new venue. Maybe now’s the time to switch to your play. Or to read something. Or to go to a walk and think.

There are many parts of writing. When you’re exhausted on one, try another.

7.

Read.

Inspiration will cure writers block. Reading will incite inspiration. It’s nice like that.