On Writer's Block

Writer’s block – If you’re a writer or content producer in any way, shape or form, you’ve experienced it at one point or another. I’ve certainly gotten very well acquainted with that bastard over the ten plus years that I’ve been blogging, chances are that any major gaps in the publication rhythm of my blogs are due to that annoying little bugger. To the uninitiated out there, it may seem like a minor issue, but if you’re a content producer in any way shape or form, it can be a real problem. Now granted, I’m not making any money on my blog, as Google Adsense simply doesn’t pay off at all unless you have massive viewership numbers, but I like seeing the number of views on my blog posts climb as much as the next guy, and the moment you are able to monetise your content, writer’s block can very easily lead to a loss of income, as your blog or YouTube channel will get downrated by the major search engine algorithms out there. So yes, it is a very real issue. But how do you get around it? How do you beat Writer’s Block?

Now to preface, what I’m about to write is simply my personal experience. These are my own observations, my own “remedies” if you will, on how to get the creative juices flowing again, so inevitably, your mileage in the regard may vary. With that being said, here it goes!

Switch off any distractions

Make no mistake, writing takes quite a bit of effort, you really need to put your mind into it. So avoid any distractions. Yes, that includes closing YouTube, Snapchat or what have you! There’s nothing wrong with having a browser tab open for any research you may have to do, but really the only thing open on your screen should be the draft of your article or script. When you’re writing in public, for example on a train or in a café, put on your headphones to block out any noise as well.

Put on some music

This is the first tip that may be specific to me, rather than being general advice. I personally find that I work much better when listening to music while working, whether that’s in my day job or when writing a post for one of my blogs. I personally find either instrumental classical music to work best, alongside with some “middle of the road” music, music that I listened to back in my school days, etc. 

Grab some coffee!

If you prefer tea, that works as well, but I’ve personally had good experiences with a nice steaming mug of coffee. For some reason, it really helps me get over that initial “hump” and actually start putting words down on metaphorical paper. I’m pretty sure it’s nothing more than a placebo, but it’s nice to have nonetheless, and being comfortable is important in its own right. You’re writing and not digging a foxhole, so you might as well have some creature comforts.

Sit up straight

There is such a thing as being too comfortable though. I’ve personally found that for the life of me I can’t write while sitting on my sofa at home, or indeed in any reclined position. I’m not sure what the reason for that is, but I’m usually much more productive when I’m writing here in my home office, at the kitchen table, or in any chair that has a reasonably straight back. And here I was thinking that my parents were simply sadists when they tried to teach me that lesson back when I was a kid!

Go on a writing date!

Yes, you read that right. I’ve been doing this almost as long as I’ve been blogging. Basically, a writing date simply means grabbing your laptop or tablet and heading out to a new place in order to get your writing done. For me, that usually meant heading to a café to grab a coffee, sit down, and use their free wi-fi to get my writing done. I mostly used Starbucks for this, as the coffee is almost an afterthought in this case. It’s the change of scenery that is the vital part in this situation. It pays to have a good pair of headphones in this situation though, as cafés can get rather louder than might be conducive to getting your writing juices flowing.

Don’t force yourself!

This point often gets overlooked. Chances are that even in ideal circumstances, you won’t hit your writing stride right from the get-go. Staring at a blank sheet or a half-finished draft while trying to get into the zone is par for the course. When that happens, don’t force yourself to start writing something just for the sake of writing. I’ve ruined more than one draft this way, and in some cases ended up deleting several paragraphs as I’d run off on some low-quality tangent that had nothing to do with the original intent of the article. 

Organise your notes!

This is something I learned far too late in my writing “career”. It’s all well and good to dive right in and start hacking away at the keyboard. That’s how my first blog posts started out and that’s how I continued working until well after I moved here to Ireland. However, this method tends to fall apart once your articles get a bit more complex. That’s where note-taking and more importantly organising notes comes in. Simply swiping over into OneNote, Evernote or whatever note-taking tool you’re using is often much faster than looking something up on the internet, which also tends to disrupt your writing flow.

In addition, having your notes open also has the additional benefit of giving you something to do when you just can’t get into the flow, as you can write down whatever comes into your mind and then later sift through these notes and develop them further once you’ve gotten into the writing flow.

As I mentioned in the beginning of these posts, those are just my experiences and as with all things, there are exceptions to these rules as well. What’s more, this all developed over time, with stops and starts and dead ends, so don’t hesitate to experiment in order to come up with a solution that works for you. After all you as the author are the most important person when it comes to writing your story, script or article.