More on How To Overcome Writer's Block

Writer’s block happens to someone when he finds it difficult to start or continue writing.  This is often associated with stress or anxiety caused by myriads of reasons ranging from lack of materials about the subject matter, to fear of not coming up with a decent enough output.  For some, writer’s block may sometimes prove to be a tough nut to crack. 

Understanding and knowing some possible underlying causes for these episodes when you can’t write as easily as you always do, would be a big help to overcome writer’s block.  Fear, anxiety, a life change, new project, old project, personal problems, even economic problems can cause that distinct feeling of a writer’s frustration.

It is sometimes funny to think that while we are writers who, or because we, love to write, we get clogged up by this crippling feeling of being unable to write.  Even a deadline that’s literally rushing towards us could not compel us to write.  Instead of feeling prodded to productivity, we grow overly anxious and frustrated; we could feel our body stiffening. This is writer’s block.

If your writer’s block is characterized by fear or anxiety as described above, panicking will only make things worse for you.  The less you have to think about writing would be better.  One writer tried (successfully) to circumvent this problem by going to her desk to write immediately upon waking up.  She says that by the time she’s fully awake and remembers her anxiety, she’s already writing.

Most beginning writers rely on inspiration to come up with a decent piece.  Mostly, they write because they “feel like” writing.  This writing habit becomes impossible when you become a professional writer who needs to write whether you “feel like” writing or not.  The absence of that “feel like” motivation could be a difficult case of writer’s block.  This could be resolved by constant self motivation and a change in your paradigm about you being a writer.

It would help if you would submit to the idea that writing, besides a hobby and a passion, is also your job.  And just like any other job, you have to perform a task regardless of your mood or inclination towards doing it.  Being a professional writer, you must consider writing more as a regular job and less as an art.  Embracing this concept would be a great help in overcoming writer’s block.  Stephen King uses the metaphor of physical work to writing.  Like craftsmen, us wordsmiths, are also laborers putting brick after brick of words until we create things, stories, newsletters, or key-word rich articles.  But instead of bricks and mortars, we use our words—vocabulary and grammar, as our building blocks.

Here are quotations from great writers that this writer found.  Combined together in a single paragraph would give one a profound understanding on how to overcome writer’s block.

Anna Quindlen says, "People have writer's block not because they can't write, but because they despair of writing eloquently.” James Thurber adds, "Don't get it right, just get it written." and finally, Maya Angelou quips, "What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I’ll come.'"

Enjoy writing