Writer's Block - Ten Tips and More on How to Get Writing Again

Few writers have written for any significant amount of time without running into that most frustrating bane of all Writer's Block! It is an experience that may be described as a period of time when the writer, despite all efforts to the contrary, can produce little or nothing. If you are a writer and you have experienced a block then you may be familiar with the strange and unusual sensation of staring at a keyboard or monitor hour upon exasperating hour while nothing appears.

If you have experienced a writer's block, do not despair. Although the block may cause you a great amount of aggravation and disappointment, blocks are to be expected. In fact, writer's blocks may be more common among writers than you realize. The fact that you have identified the problem brings you halfway to the solution.

Before I discuss various tips to help you move beyond your writer's block, I would like to suggest some things for you to consider. First of all, and you may find this hard to accept, but the writer's block may be a GOOD thing.

Say what?

That's right! Your writing block may be your brain's way of trying to tell you that you need to change gears. You see, sometimes writers have a tendency to "force" their writing into a certain format or direction. We would like to convince ourselves that something needs to be written in a certain way and no other way will do. We determine to pick a topic and plug along like there is no tomorrow. But, somewhere along the way the words we are putting down dissociates from a deeper belief system or pattern of logic that dwells within us. On the conscious level, we may think the words make sense, but subconsciously the brain has hit the emergency break. That is when the alarm goes off and the system says, TILT.

In other words, it is your brain's way of trying to tell you "Wait a minute! You've missed the mark."

Other reasons why you may experience writer's block include, exhaustion, disinterest, lack of knowledge, experience, information or time, and, of course, there are countless others. However, my experience has been that all of these various factors may be overcome and quite easily, when they have been identified as the leading cause for the block. Nevertheless, of all the obstacles that contribute to the writer's block it is the "emergency break" that the writer needs to become aware of and understand.

Why? Because understanding the "emergency break" can provide the writer with greater power of communication as he or she becomes more sensitive to the inner voice of the author. Once the author becomes familiar with their breaking tendencies, they may learn to respond to them in a more positive manner.

So, to help you understand breaking try to imagine a train as it is going down the tracks. It does not start out traveling at 100 miles-per-hour. Neither does your writing. Generally, your writing will begin slowly, with ideas, intuitions, plots, characters, etc. Then as these things begin to develop, as you begin to express them the momentum builds until at last the words come surging forth, fast and furiously. This is the train at 100 miles-per hour.

Now the problem for the train occurs when it meets either an incline or a turn, and the same is true for the writer. If the train attempts to climb an incline without changing gears it can overheat and stall. If the train attempts to negotiate a turn without slowing down it can go off the tracks and come to a sudden halt.

As you write you will ascend mountains of ideas. Some of these ideas are more complicated and steeper than other ideas. If you attempt to rush your way right over them without fully developing them or thinking them through your mind will overload and your brain will stall. Likewise, there are times when your writing will need to change directions. If you have been moving in one direction without anticipating or preparing for the change in direction your line of reasoning or the flow of your writing will derail before you get from point A to point B.

The writer's block is often an indication that you have already had a problem with your train. So, what do you do to get your writing back in motion?

1. Change Gears When you are writing about things that are new, complicated or difficult to express, slow down. Take your time. Do your homework. Make sure you have the information, knowledge or experience you need to be able to address the topic. Sometimes writers will attempt to write about something that they know little or nothing about. This is a sure formula for disaster. Know your topic or if you don't know it, know how to find and use the resources that are available to obtain adequate information to approach the topic.

2. Change Tracks If you realize that you have written all you can on any particular theme or idea then it is time to change tracks. Find something else to write about. Is it related to the train of thought you had discussed previously? If so, what is the connection? How do you get from planting carrots to selling carrots to cooking carrots and finally eating carrots? Each division requires a change of tracks, if you will.

3. Change Directions Sometimes it will be best to change directions. You may need to go back and re-write a portion of your work. On the other hand, you may discover that you cannot go from point A to point B without going to points 1, 2 and 3 first. You may decide that the destination of your writing was not at all what you had anticipated to begin with. If you have been writing about traveling from New York to San Diego, but your train is on its way to Miami, then your writing is going to have to reflect that change of direction.

To simplify and summarize: Slow down, change topics, and/or change how you are going to get from point A to point B.

And now... the 10 Tips you may want to think about if you are experiencing a writing block:

1. Take a break. Go back to your writing at another time.

2. If you are not passionate about the thing you are writing about then maybe you should write about something you are passionate about.

3. Read things that interest you until you find something that strikes a chord in you, then write about that. For me, many ideas have emerged while I was commenting on other people's articles.

4. Get in touch with your emotions, express them in your writing. Write about your anger, your fear, your joy, your sorrow.

5. Try a different genre of writing.

6. Imagine that you are somebody else and explain things from their perspective.

7. Try some freeform writing. Let your mind go blank, then write anything that comes to mind without any predetermined ideas about what you want to write or where you want it to go.

8. Take something that you have written and write it backwards. You may be surprised at what this can do!

9. Remember to utilize the formula: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

10. Switch mediums. Instead of a keyboard, try pen and paper, or pencil, crayon, chalk or paint. This will force you to write at a different speed and opens up new neuro-pathways in your brain, which will require you to think differently and ultimately express yourself differently.

In essence, if the way you are writing is not working then you must write in a different way. Change things up. Explore new avenues of expression. Get creative. Pretend you are a reporter, a doctor, a preacher, etc., and explain things from their perspective.

But most of all remember this: Your writer's block is only temporary this too shall pass.