5 ways to combat writer's block
Here is this question again. One of the biggest and most asked questions in the writing community: how do you overcome writer's block? Every writer faces it, every writer hates it, and every writer wants it to go away forever.
So, here are 5 ways to combat writer's block!
1) Push Through
For me writer's block is not something to "get over" as though it were a sickness that will one day heal. Most of the time it hangs over me like a wet blanket until I'm able to break away from it's dampness. For me, writer's block is something that must be pushed through. With time it may subside or you might be so overcome with inspiration that the writer's block is lost within the raptures of being inspired, but the majority of the time it hangs out until you can shove it out the door. Plus, you don't want to hang out and let your book get dry why you wait for inspiration.
The best way I have found to push past this period of loss of interest or idea is to do simply that; push through it!
WRITE! Whatever it is that is causing the writer's block could have to do with a number of things but it is preventing you from doing only one thing, writing. So when you are stuck reading this same sentence fifty times without any idea of what to put down next just jot something down that will move you along with the book. Eventually you will reach a scene that you have been looking forward to and the writer's block will disappear. What you write it not set in stone, you can always go back and change it when you feel more like writing.
2) Skip Ahead
I often find myself knowing more about what I want done in a future scene than the one I'm currently working on. If you're having trouble on one page you might skip ahead in the book and write a scene further toward the ending. I sometimes feel more acquainted with what I want on future pages, maybe having given them some thought or having been inspired by something. If your mind is on the end of the book and you are stuck in the middle then write an ending. It might not be the ending you use, it might not be anything more than a paragraph, it might turn out to be absolutely terrible, but either way it gives you something to write toward, something to connect this not so easy part with. Writing future scenes that I seem more into has often helped my writer's block.
3) Take a Break
Hit the red X in the corner of your document and shut down your computer. Close it up and set it aside. If you're wear reading glasses like I do take 'em off and lay 'em down. Stand up and walk away, your done with this ridiculousness that is writer's block and you're gonna focus on something else. Maybe take the whole rest of your day off from writing. Sometimes all your mind needs is a break and the next morning or even the next hour you might be ready to start again. Just don't let your cook grow cold over days and days of not writing.
4) Read a Book
Everyone says that writers are readers, and I agree! I love to read other people's work and sometimes getting your mind into someone else's writing will help you with yours. Sometimes its as simple at #3, you just need to get away from your writing for a while.
5) Eliminate Distractions
This is a very big one for me! Sometimes, when I'm really into what I'm writing, I can write in any environment but lets not fool ourselves, QUIET = BETTER. Most of the time I need it to be almost completely quiet in the room when I'm writing. I can't concentrate when there is noise and end up just reading the same sentence over and over before being distracted by something. But everyone is different, you might need complete silence or you might want to put on some music or have the TV in the background; you might want to go to the coffee shop, sit down with your mocha and write. Create the best environment for you, a place where writer's block will have less of a hold.
No matter who you are or how popular your writing is or how often you write, every writer experiences writer's block. Its our own personal ailment. The important thing is, don't let your work sit aside for days or weeks while you wait for writer's block to go away. Don't let your book get cold due to lack of interest or inability to acquire inspiration. If you wait to write until you have been inspired by something you and your work might be waiting for a very long time. Take a short break, push through it, make yourself as comfortable as possible and remember that it will all be worth it when you hold your finished work in your hand.
