Let’s face it: sometimes, being a writer is friggin’ hard. Maybe you don’t have the time, or maybe you’re just not feeling motivated to crank out a new piece of work… or maybe, you’ve been struck with a dreaded case of writer’s block.
GASP.
Oh no! What ever will you do? You’ll read on for some tips and tricks on how to power through it, that’s what you’ll do. Here we go.
Tip #1: Change your surroundings.
Sometimes breaking through your writer’s block is as simple as getting out of your usual space. By changing up your surroundings, you also change your mindset, which could give you exactly the creative boost you need to put pen to paper.
If you normally work in your home office, for example, try getting out to a local coffee shop. If the weather is nice, you could even head to park and have a seat under a shade tree. Wherever you go, changing up your surroundings is a great way to change your mindset and break through your writer’s block.
Tip #2: Check out what people are asking on Quora.
If you know you want to write about a specific topic, but just can’t decide what specifically to focus on, check out Quora. Type in your subject into the search bar and see what comes up; you’d be amazed at all the different questions people are asking about your subject of choice. If people are asking questions about it, it’s probably something people are interested in; so why not use that question as the basis for an article or blog post?
Tip #3: Go experience something.
This is my personal favourite. If you’ve read my writing for any period of time, you know that I love writing about personal experiences, because there’s no right or wrong way to go about it. But here’s the kicker: to write about personal experiences, you need to go have some first.
SHHH IT’S A SECRET TO EVERYONE.
Personal experiences are what give you amazing stories to tell to your friends and family at dinner parties, and they’re also what give you the inspiration to write passionate and interesting personal pieces. Without them, you’re often left just regurgitating information that countless others have already written about. Your personal experiences though? Those are 100%, purely, undeniably unique to you, and that makes them special.
The takeaway here is this: get out into the world and do stuff. Do literally anything you like to do. Take a trip to a faraway place. Go out to a festival or party that you might be on the fence about. Take an art or cooking class. You’d be amazed at how adding to your list of life experiences can wipe out writer’s block… for me, it works better than anything else.
Wrapping it Up
There are a ton of ways to crack through a tough bout of writer’s block, but the one thing that will never work is to procrastinate until you feel “inspired” or whatever other adjective you want to use to cover up what is nothing more than an excuse for not writing.
More than anything else, the key to breaking through writer’s block is momentum; you need to start making progress, which then starts to fuel itself and propel you up and out of your slump. And if all else fails, you can always write a post about how to break out of writer’s block 🙂
