Reliable Techniques for Writers to Produce Words on Demand
Five methods to defeat the empty page
Published in
7 min readMay 13, 2021
“The human brain loathes uncertainty,” writes James Altucher in his book Skip the Line. Uncertainty causes a spike in the stress hormone, cortisol. “We have fear of uncertainty baked into our genes,” Altucher says.
He continues:
“A modern example of this is the stock market. Often it doesn’t matter if the news is bad or good, the stock market will go up. But if the news is uncertain, the market will crash.”
Uncertainty is what causes writers to feel blocked. The act of writing is a risk, replete with uncertainty and unknowns. To see what I mean, here are some of the thoughts I have when writing:
- I don’t know where to start
- Will anyone read this?
- Will anyone like it?
- This is amazing… no this is terrible… no this is amazing… no definitely terrible
- Will I get paid for this?
- I’ve no idea what I want to write about
- I’m not sure I’ve got the skills to write this
Even though I experience these thoughts, and the emotions that come with them, I’m not sure whether writer’s block is real. Bestselling writer Neil…
