Writer’s Block Sucks - based on a true story

The struggle is real! But I’ll share some of the ways I snap out of it and get the words flowing.

One of them happened just two days ago. I was having a heck of a time writing a short spy thriller over the last couple of months. I had a beginning and end in mind, but no idea of how to get from one to the other. Whenever I sat down to plot it out or to write the beginning, I’d write a few words, get stuck, get frustrated, and go do something else (something super productive, like binge watch a show).
Then one day another assignment came up, this time in the mystery/horror genre. I switched to plotting that one out, and made some headway when I decided to brainstorm possible plot twists. I wrote several down for that story, finished an outline in one sitting, and switched over to the spy thriller and did the same. Plot twists just spilled out of my brain for that one, too, and I filled that empty middle in and started writing. Plotting out the other project had shaken something in my brain loose.

I think trying too hard to focus on something, especially something that I feel like I’m failing at, makes it all the harder to get the writing gears going. My brain instead focuses on generating anxiety, which just makes things worse. If you find yourself staring at a blank page, try flipping to another project and writing or plotting on that for a while. Then come back to the original and see how it goes.

The next thing that gets me writing is reading books or listening to panels or podcasts about writing. It doesn’t even matter if I agree with their methods. Different things work for different writers. But immersing myself in talk about writing also inspires me to write. And I pick up tips to try out as a bonus.

Another is reading (or listening to) nonfiction books or watching online lectures about whatever I’m trying to write about. Ghost story? Watch some ghost hunter shows. Spy story? Watch a documentary or read a book about real spies. Or if I’m just looking for ideas of what to write next, any topic will do. I can’t tell you how many ideas for sci-fi stories I got while reading my Humanities Computing textbooks, particularly Cyber_Reader and The New Media Reader (both anthologies of texts).

I also go for walks on the treadmill, but if I do so in the middle of a writing crisis, I try to bundle one of the abovementioned listening/reading sessions with the walk. Still, just doing something active to get blood flowing to your brain might help on its own. And you get the added health benefits.

For the record, I’m not saying I finished the stories mentioned above. That is another battle. And possibly a future blog post.

Happy writing!