How I Was Able To Beat My Writer’s Block After 5 Years
It has been almost 5 years since I had stopped writing anything new. Official documents, business emails, CV, cover letters are necessities. You will not find the joy of creating something new in writing something within a particular format. The creative bug will always be eating away at the inner walls of your mind if you try to stow it away. I used to write for social media, some tabloids and a short story collection that I had been working on getting published. I did use to keep a journal as well for a while; that was not continued eventually.
Little did I know that this downward spiral is going to affect my necessary writings as well (i.e. the business letters, documents, and emails). You start to get holed into a pen, one from which you can not get out of at some point. I have had days where I had procrastinated before writing a single email for 3 days straight.…..Yes, it does get that bad.
Types of procrastination which were stopping me from writing something :
- I need to learn more about it before I start writing.
- Let’s just finish this episode on Netflix, and then I will start.
- I need a special kind of paper and that particular type of ink to write it.
- I will start writing after I get a solid idea.
- What would the readers think of it?
- Has it been written before?
…and I can keep on going with these!
Here are a few things that helped me pick my inner writer up, dust him off and get him on the road again :
Find Your Jam :
Just like how your workouts can get fueled by the proper playlist, creative writing too can be influenced by it. I found myself getting my writing chops back with The Last Samurai BGM Jukebox composed by the immortal Hans Zimmer. Some might like some 80’s groove or even classic hard rock to be running their wheels. Ambient music also helps in certain situations. Basically, it is all about trial and error. Crank up the volume and lose yourself in a trance like state where your imaginations can roam free. Research shows that people tend to write better in their subconscious states.
Write In The Early Hours Of The Day :
Early mornings are the most potent hours for letting some wild ideas stew in that good ol' noggin of ours. The early hours can see you wake up with some fresh ideas on something new or something you had been working on. Whenever something new is popping in your mind, do not let it slip. Add that to your current draft or start anew. Some people take the help of meditation or practice channeling their chi flow-these can help you get focused and get started with the clear head.
Break It Down :
One thing I was continuously getting wrong was trying to write it at one go. I was treating it like some chore and wanted to get it all over with one fell swoop. Like a big old oak, keep on chipping away at it. Break your write ups down to little paragraphs and merge them together at the end and see how it sounds. This gives you more flexibility over the quality of your article as you can take the fluff out and make it leaner whenever you want.
Preserve Your Random Thoughts :
Throughout the whole day a lot of ideas might appear here and there. Some of them may just turn out to be pure gold. Every piece of writing revolves around at least one concrete idea. I went the old school way on this one and started carrying a notebook where I would write down if I can think of something substantial. These days note taking had been more simplified with apps like Evernote, OneNote, Google Keep, Sticky Notes (the built in app on Windows 10, you can sync it with your Outlook email ID) etc. The digital way provides security and peace of mind as you would not be losing your notes so easily.
Write Something Without Purpose :
If you are coming out of a hiatus from your regular writing schedule, then you might want to warm up first before stepping on to the big stage. Get those ring rusts out of the way and go a few rounds with something without a specific objective. Once the words start flowing, get serious with one idea at a time and you will find yourself juggling with bigger write ups in no time. Just like any other muscle group, your brain needs to warm up as well before it can go into overhaul.
Read Some, Write Some :
Surrounding yourself with ideas can induce new ideas within you. Books, Literature, Articles are the offspring of people’s ideas. Learn about other ideas and get ideas of your own. When you have started writing and hit a wall, take a break, read something else. A book you have been meaning to finish maybe, listen to your favorite podcast a little bit and get back to writing again. This will help you think outside of the box, and the writing would seem a lot less like a chore. Your creative works are not meant to choke you down, rather they are meant to lift you up and liberate you.
I find the act of coming up with ideas and writing to be an immersive experience. Immersing myself into the things I love, indulging myself into the things I love doing in a controlled way, letting myself loose just a little bit has seen me getting over my writer’s block. I might not be at full capacity at the moment, but we all have got to start somehow, somewhere. Always try to remember that level of satisfaction you get while clicking on the PUBLISH button.
