How To Get Over Writer's Block
Let’s just go ahead and call it what it is.
Writer's block is fear.
It's that voice in your head saying you're not good at writing, no one is ever going to read this, or who do you think you are?
Everyone experiences writer’s block at one point or another, but stewing in your writer's block is not an option — especially if you write for a living.
When you find yourself staring at a blank document unable to form words, here are my four go-to tips for getting over writer's block.
Here’s the gist of my writer’s block tips:
1. Tackle Smaller Writing Tasks
Tackling easier writing tasks can help you build momentum to bust through writer's block.
Sometimes I'll write the conclusion of a blog post or jot down sentences, but this exercise doesn't have to be related to your website copy, blog post, or book you’re stuck on.
Starting small can be as simple as opening a page in your journal and writing about your day. The goal of this practice is to put you in a writing mindset.
I was gifted the book 642 Things To Write About filled with writing prompts that I've found extremely helpful when I can’t seem to write. My entries in this book never take longer than 15 minutes, and no one ever has to read them.
Simple writing prompts can help push through the initial resistance to writing, especially when you're not feeling like the flow.
2. Dive Into Research
Writing comes more naturally when you're confident about the subject and have a lot to say about it. Still, even if you're an expert on the topic, I recommend brushing up on research.
Hop onto forums to see what questions people are asking that you have the best answer to. What do the latest journals, news outlets, your competitors, or books have to say about the subject? Can you ask another expert for their opinion?
Stepping away from writing to get a fresh perspective on your problem could be the answer to your current writer's block.
Take your new notes and create an outline (I always outline my work). Outlining your project helps you organise your ideas, and shows you places in the project where you can jump in and let the words roll.
3. Make Peace With The Fact Your First Draft Will Suck
The most important part of the writing process is getting your ideas onto the page.
Editing is where the real magic happens. Writing is like taking a lump of clay and forming it into the shape of a vase. The editing is where you trim and refine the shape before blazing and glazing it to your finished piece.
As a creative person, I'm sure you've heard this phrase endlessly, but you have to "trust the process."
If perfectionism is getting in your way to producing work, remember no one has to read your rough drafts anyways. It's much more important that you get your ideas onto a page before you have to worry about showing it to anyone else.
4. Record Yourself Explaining Your Idea
Voice recording is my favourite tool for when that blank document is so overwhelming that I'm struggling to collect thoughts into words. Sometimes talking it out feels more comfortable than writing.
You can either use the voice memo app on your phone and start recording or record a conversation with your best friend (or someone you're comfortable with) over Zoom.
Zoom has a feature that allows you to record your call and save it as an audio file. All you have to do is play back the recording and transcribe what you say.
Suddenly, your page isn’t looking so blank, and you have something to work with.
Let's Sum Up These Tips
If you've come to the end of this article feeling let down that I didn’t have any hacks or quick fixes for your writer's block, I'm sorry to have disappointed you.
The truth is writer's block stems from your own resistance, so the only way to overcome periods of creative block is by pushing through the work, even when you don't feel like it.
This is the only way to see improvement in your writing. This goes for anything we do — fitness goals, hitting those business milestones, to personal relationships — you need to show up and do the work.
My advice for getting over writer’s block in a nutshell is to:
Start small
Do your research
Don’t get hung up on perfection
Transcribe your voice recordings
These tips are built around creating momentum to bust through that daunting wall of a blank page.
If you're like me and need to learn about why we're prone to creative ruts, I highly recommend reading War of Art by Steven Pressfield and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.