It’s somewhat of a boogeyman in the writing community. People either believe or they don’t. Or it’s Macbeth in a theater and saying it out loud will only bring the worst of luck unto the speaker. Writer’s block, whether real or not, is an affliction most writers have encountered or heard about. It can have many causes, but the main one I’ve heard from both acquaintances and research has been stress. The question remains: how do I get rid of it?
In order to get to the bottom of the issue at hand, I thought asking people in my own creative writing community what they thought would be helpful. In two of my classes, I asked the questions: What is writers' block to you? How do you solve it? If you don't believe in it, why? While many of my classmates struggled to put it in words—an ironic case writer’s block in of itself—a few of the responses caught my attention:
For me, writer's block is the feeling of being against the flow...or out of sync—over thinking. Solving it is personal. I believe one must listen to their own mind/body. Sometimes the solution may be pushing through and trekking through the mud. Other times, it may be stepping away from the piece, going for a walk, and simply providing the space for an opening—allowing for the flow to return.
And:
For me, the best way to tackle writer’s block is to talk it out. Whether it be talking aloud to just myself while my cat listens in cluelessly or giving a close friend a call to bounce ideas or thoughts off of, the act of verbalizing everything I want to put down on the page makes handling writer’s block easier. More than anything, talking it out allows me to conceptualize what I want to write about and break it down into easier chunks—I can take notes, connect ideas, and plan what I want to do with a specific project. Talking is another activity that I love to do and I’m able to enter a more generative headspace when everything in my mind is moving at a faster pace.
Personally, I find that starting to write down anything is helpful. Even if I’m meant to be working on something else, once I start to write, I can usually continue. Another thing I like to keep in mind is that not all of my writing has to be good. Sure, it’s a struggle to get past that mentality (and I’m sure it contributes to my own writer’s block), but it does help to think that not everything has to be the next best thing I’ve ever written. If I’m writing to the point of extreme stress, it may be time to take a break. Who knows what my brain could come up with during that break? It could even be the break-through I’m waiting for.
My colleagues threw out other ways to help: reading something, using a prompt, taking a nap, locking yourself in a room with only a notebook, and setting a word count goal. There’s no perfect way to work out writer’s block. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference as well as trial and error. At the end of the day, I think it’s important to remember that writing is supposed to be enjoyable.
Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash