What is one way you overcome writer’s block?
To help writers of all kinds when writer’s block hits, we asked content writers and business professionals this question for their best insights. From giving yourself a writing prompt to finding your most creative time of day, there are several ideas that may help you overcome a creative slowdown in the future.
Here are eight tips to get over writing paralysis:
Relax When Writing Your First Draft
Solve Your Block With Brainstorming
Write Your Thoughts
Give Yourself a Writing Prompt
Go High Level — Write an Outline
Draw Inspiration Through Reading
Pull Out Your Journal
Find Your Most Creative Time of the Day
Relax When Writing Your First Draft
Perfectionism is a common problem among authors, and it may be especially painful during the first draft. Writers often get stuck because they place too much pressure on themselves to get it right the first time. Allowing oneself to write imperfectly is an excellent approach to loosen up and have some fun in a draft.
Remember that “perfect is the enemy of good,” so don’t worry about the small stuff! You can always go back and make changes or have a second set of eyes look over the manuscript. However, for the time being, simply putting the text on the page will be enough.
Eric Blumenthal, ZoePrint
Solve Your Block With Brainstorming
For a good reason, brainstorming is frequently suggested as a creative solution to a variety of problems. Emptying your mind of thoughts and writing them down can make it easier to visualize ideas and connections.
Brainstorming is a good approach to come up with ideas when you’re stuck as a writer. When brainstorming, try doing a word association. Write your article or blog post’s main topic on the page and come up with as many words as you can that relate to it in some way.
Better still, use a thesaurus for assistance. Not only will you know a lot more about the subject by the end of the exercise, but you’ll also have a lot of related words and thoughts running about in your head, waiting to pour out onto the paper.
Court Will, Will & Will
Write Your Thoughts
Sometimes the best way to beat writer’s block is to just write. This may seem counterproductive, but putting all of your thoughts on a page can help you organize your ideas and move forward. Even if you end up deleting every thought on the page, you may just end up writing out whatever was blocking your writing.
Beth Baranski, Markitors
Give Yourself a Writing Prompt
The best way to overcome writer’s block is to have a generic template of ideas that work for every niche. For instance, you can write a review in your niche. The “review” format alone leads to many possible topics. For instance, you can review a famous person in your niche, a popular book people in your niche read, an obscure book title you recommend, a podcast in your niche, and a tool used by people in your niche.
Janice Wald, Mostly Blogging Academy
Go High Level — Write an Outline
When I have trouble writing, I switch from the details to the higher-level topics. I start listing out all of the topics I want to cover, then step back and look to see if anything has sparked an idea. If I’m still stuck, I start researching each of those topics, adding URLs and facts under the topics. I then start arranging for order. If I’m still not ready to roll, I pick a random topic heading, often the ending, and start there. Sometimes it’s easier to fill in the blanks if you can just create a path!
Lisha Dunlap, UAT
Draw Inspiration Through Reading
One of the most effective ways of overcoming writer’s block is shifting your entire perspective. It doesn’t sound easy, and it usually isn’t, but reading can help you get there much faster. By immersing yourself in a book, you start looking at things with new eyes, and this can cause a breakthrough moment for many people experiencing writer’s block. Sometimes you just need a stroke of inspiration to help you get back on track.
Larissa Pickens, Worksion
Pull Out Your Journal
Try free-style journaling. This can be a good way to uncover thoughts and feelings you may have not previously realized you had. Getting in touch with things that are on your mind and heart and that you truly care about can definitely serve as inspiration for topics to write about.
Maegan Griffin, Skin Pharm
Find Your Most Creative Time of the Day
Overcome your writer’s block by figuring out your peak writing times. At what point during the day do you do your best writing? To figure this out, try writing at various times during the day. Gauge your energy and focus levels during these various writing times. Then you will be able to gauge which time is your peak writing time.
Mike Pasley, Allegiant Goods
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