This Is How I Overcame Writer’s Block and Found Joy in Writing
Writer’s block is our biggest enemy in writing, and it’s actually easy to deal with, but are you willing to do it?
I struggled with writer’s block.
Even though I have written about how writer’s block does not exist, I feel like I can’t write anything from my mind. I just kept staring at the blank page for hours. I changed tabs and found it hard to start writing.
This actually leads me to procrastinate.
I’m not only struggling with blank pages but also starting to write too. I keep changing tasks and doing other tasks in order to feel productive. I try to check my phone to search for courses or tutorials to improve my writing. I sometimes scroll on Medium or Substack to write some articles in order to find some ideas. This is actually procrastinating, but on another level.
We sometimes procrastinate at this level because we feel like doing something while actually doing nothing.
When you are a writer, your job is to write.
It’s not about researching too much, reading too much, or scrolling on Medium or Substack all day. It is great to do those things, but it’s not actually doing the thing of a writer. You are not writing anything.
So, this might be what we face most of the time when it comes to writing.
We can’t find our first word or are even afraid to start writing.
We told ourselves that writing is not that hard and is actually easy to do. Writing is a beautiful activity to do, but in reality, we didn’t spend time writing. We just talk, talk, and talk about writing while failing to understand the main key to writing.
The key here is doing the thing, which is to start writing.
Avoiding
Writer’s block happens, one of them because we are trying to avoid our own tasks.
We are trying to think of something else, or even avoiding the writing itself, in order to become comfortable.
Staring at a blank page is not fun. I’m really afraid of blank pages sometimes.
It’s just not comfortable; that’s why we need to face it and start writing.
We are thinking too much about the words or the format.
Perfection
The second reason that writer’s block happens is because of perfection.
You are right, perfection. You might think procrastination is the only main problem, but behind that is actually a big ego of perfection.
- You are so afraid to start writing because you are thinking about how to make a perfect article.
- You are so afraid to start writing because you are not sure how to write the perfect headline.
- You are so afraid to start writing because you are unsure of how to come up with the best ideas.
This actually leads us to writer’s block and procrastination.
We sometimes confuse whether it’s writer’s block or procrastination, but it’s actually both of them. You are facing procrastination and writer’s block at the same time, which is holding you back from writing.
The solution to that is to only write one sentence and be brave enough to continue.
Write one sentence. It’s much harder to start than to continue to write, so we need to move from 0 to 1 by writing a sentence. This helps you to start writing and overcome the big wall of procrastination.
Now, what did I mean by being brave after writing one sentence?
Being brave in writing means facing failures.
- Be brave; you will write bad ideas.
- Be brave; you will write bad words.
- Be brave; you will write bad articles.
The more you are comfortable with failures, the more you will enjoy writing.
The same is true for myself too.
The problem is actually perfection.
I’m afraid to fail so much that I don’t start writing.
You might see this problem at the Nokia phone company. They thought that by not making any mistakes, they would beat the competition.
The competition is actually within each company. It’s innovation—the bravery to make mistakes and fail over and over again. The same is true in writing.
It’s just about writing for this day, editing it for tomorrow, and then writing again.
So, don’t be afraid to start writing. The best time to start writing is when you are afraid that you will write bad articles because you are letting the mud out until you get clean water from the tap.
It just takes time until you become better at writing.
So, if you are deciding to deal with your writer’s block or your procrastination, here are some things you can do to start writing.
1. Freewriting
Freewriting is letting your fingers write words without really thinking about them.
You can write random words (not random numbers or words that don’t make any sense) and overcome the wall of procrastination. You can start writing whatever comes to mind until you get the hang of it.
This actually beats procrastination and writer’s block.
Writer’s block only happens because of not overcoming the wall of starting to write.
2. Journaling
You might have started journaling before, but this time, use it to eliminate your procrastination.
Just write down how’s your day or how you feel until you get motivated to start writing. You will start to write more and more and more, and then you will find yourself writing an article. Sometimes, from journaling, I can find some ideas for my next article. This way, you can use journaling too, not only to overcome writer’s block or procrastination but also to understand yourself.
Those two are my tips for dealing with procrastination, or the writer’s block of writing.
Writer’s block vs procrastination
I understand that writer’s block is not the same as procrastination, but it is similar.
So, when you can deal with your procrastination, you can actually deal with writer’s block too. It’s just a matter of time before you start destroying the ego of perfection.
Remember that writing is not about making the perfect article.
It’s actually about making an imperfect article and sharing it with the world until you make a great article.
Start writing now because writing itself is actually beating your own darkest self,
which is perfection.
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