How to Banish Writer’s Block
Three principles for a life without creative ruts
So you want to write. Maybe it’s that professional article you’ve been wanting to complete in order to share information about your field/impress your boss. Maybe it’s that personal story you’ve had churning around your brain for decades. Maybe you just like the idea of writing, but every time you face the blank page, all the words seem to hide.
Our advice? Don’t overthink it. Here are three fool-proof ways to beat a block, get unstuck, and let those words run wild. They’re actually more like principles than like tips, a unified philosophy for living an unstuck life:
Engage with the world
Oddly enough, sometimes the key to writing is to not write. Sure, you’re probably thinking, actually I’m quite good at the not-writing, that’s the whole issue. But take it from prolific author and New Yorker writer Susan Orlean: “When I’m really stuck, I just feel like I have to get out of my office. I have to look at a bunch of newspapers and magazines. I have to be out in the world. I just have to open myself up to as many possibilities as I can, and odds are pretty good that something will click.”
She also notes that sometimes when she’s stuck in the middle of a piece, it’s because she doesn’t know enough about the topic, and needs to step away from the page and do more research. After all, in order to write, you have to have something to write about.
Have a good time
Sounds like we’re not really giving you advice that will help get words on the screen, right? But stay with us here: as philosopher Will Buckingham points out in this piece, creativity is about seeking pleasure. We often think writing has to involve suffering, but that’s not really the case. Writing does, however, involve difficulty. The good news there? As Buckingham puts it, “Anything interesting or enriching or worthwhile you might choose to do with your life involves difficulty….embrace difficulty and seek out the fun in it.”
What will make writing fun for you? Can you impose a structure on your piece that makes it feel like a game for you? Can you loosen up your style, add some personality and humor to the work that’s feeling like a slog (because remember, if you’re bored, your reader will be bored)? Seek out the fun.
Don’t try
WHAT is going on here? Is this real advice? (It is, we promise.)
Medium writer A. A. Ruanto points us the grave of Charles Bukowski, which says: “Don’t try.” As Ruanto puts it, “Stop trying to want to be a writer, and be a writer.” It’s true that we can get really tangled up in our heads about the idea of writing, and that this is not actually creatively useful. Think about what you really want to say in your post (or project, or book, or…). Think about what unique perspective you bring to the table. And then, stop thinking about writing, and do the actual writing.
You’ll want to reread and revise your work afterwards to polish it and make sure it makes sense to the reader, mind you. But what we’re talking about here is the initial stuck-in-a-rut moment, and how to get out of it by not trying to get out of it.
Do you have a great trick for beating writer’s block? Share it in the responses to this post.
