Writer’s Block

I originally posted this about four months ago, and with this most recent challenge, it wouldn’t hurt to put it up again for both new writers and the seasoned vets. We all need a reminder to remember now and then,

Every time I hear someone mention writer’s block, I immediately think of a street where no one but writer’s live.

I also describe writer’s block as “mental pause.”

I know it can be frustrating, especially after you have gone so far or so deep into your writing and then the mental light bulb burns out and you are left in the dark. I felt this way after I first wrote “The Strangest Love of All”. I really wanted to write a sequel to it almost immediately after I finished the original, but it never came to me, and that bothered me for years. Then one day (about six months ago that is), it came to me in a flash, and I was all over it and wrote the sequel in less than 15 days.

Here are several ways to overcome writer’s block.

1. Go for a walk. Walking can clear up your mind.

2. Eliminate distractions (turn off the TV, send the kids to a foster home [kidding])

3. Do something to get your blood flowing. (Running or exercising.)

4. Play. (That could be a game of solitaire to a video game.)

5. Change your environment.

6. Read a book. (Books are good for they give us ideas.)

7. Listen to music (try classical, jazz, or a mix of any type music).

The next time you have writer’s block, ask yourself these questions. Why can’t I focus?What am I lacking in inspiration? Why am I so stressed and frustrated? When the answers come, the block will begin to disappear.

But here is where I bust the myth wide open about writer’s block. There is no such thing.

Writer’s block doesn’t exist. Writer’s block is a negative phrase and if you use it, you are only self-perpetuating the cycle of being “stuck” in your writing. And that is a no harm, no foul situation. Just do one (or more) of the things listed above to clear your head and before you know it, you’ll be knocking out a thousand words a day in that novel you are writing, or finally figuring out that last line in a poem.

And if any of the above doesn’t help try these:

1. Get it down on paper. Write your main ideas down in columns, and list absolutely everything that comes to mind.

2. Don’t be afraid to step away (get away from the laptop/computer and do something else worth doing).

3. Finish what you’ve started.

4. Put some fun in where you are writing (keep things lively).

5. Look in unlikely places for ideas.

6. Explore other creative disciplines (this is always a good go to).

7. Go against the flow.

8. Research. (I always say, write what you know and research the rest).

9. Grab some important “you time”

Hard pressed to find something to write about? Read your local paper or check the news online. In both, you will find stories made every day there.

One final note: Writer’s block can be caused by too much stress, lack of rest or fresh ideas, and even putting too many emotions into what you write. Either way, this can be a distressing moment for any writer and can lead to lack of interest.

Make sure you get a good night’s sleep, start out with a hearty breakfast (of choice), and go in with the attitude of “I can do this because I know how.”

Finally, I have written a writer’s manual simply titled “Creative Writing” ... with fourteen phases of writing, you will find useful.

https://theprose.com/book/1733/creative-writing

The picture attached is in Baltimore Maryland, that housed such writers as Frederick Douglas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, H. L. Mencken, Edna St. Vincent Millay, John Dos Passos, Edgar Allan Poe, and Gertrude Stein. They all lived and wrote in Maryland, mostly in Baltimore, as do current literary powerhouses John Barth, Madison Smartt Bell, Stephen Dixon, Laura Lippman, Alice McDermott, and Anne Tyler.