Daily Blog #222: Beating Writer’s Block
By: Abbi Grasso
Tags: Writers Block, Writers On Writing, Daily Blog, Blog, Writers Life

Greetings and salutations, Blog Readers!

Yesterday, we discussed how to block Writer’s Block from ever happening, in hopes of never having the break through and beat writer’s block.

But it does happen.

Sometimes.

And when it happens you have two choices. Lament and whine how much you can’t write because of writer’s block.

Or break that shit, and beat writer’s block.

First:

Identify that it is, in fact, Writer’s Block.

Too often, entirely too often, what is called Writer’s Block is actually…lazy writers.

Oh you can get mad, but really you are likely defensive if you are. It happens. I’ve had “writers block” which was really me wanting an excuse to not write.

Or times I wanted to go drink with friends so suddenly I had writers block I needed to fix with drinks and social activities.

No, I was lazy and I didn’t want to write. I lost plenty of time on that crap, so as uncomfortable as it may be to have someone call you on your shit, the first, and very first thing, you must do, is HONESTLY look at your situation, and figure out if you are just lazy. Which leads to step two.

REALLY make sure it is Writer’s Block by forcing yourself to write a few words.

Write a few words, and even if they suck, keep writing, and try, with all you can, write.

If the story you are working on won’t flow, try another story. Dig into the writers prompts you have- feel free to check out my Pinterest board of prompts if you need. Write. Write 3k words or so, see what grows….

If you were able to get lost in another project really quick…Guess what?

It wasn’t writers block. You didn’t wanna work on your Work in Progress (WiP). You now have written a bunch of words proving that. Now go work on your project, fully warmed up and ready to go.

If you weren’t able to write, even on something different, hey, you may be looking at Writer’s Block. Let’s look at step three.

If you aren’t able to write, be it creative prompts, your main story, other works in progress…you need to journal.

No excuses. This is a key step to not only figuring out if it is Writer’s Block, but what is causing it, and, recovering from it.

Journal. Write about your day, your life, your problems. If you journal often this is just an update entry, if you don’t, you now have more writing to do.

Write. Journal about what is going on, about how blocked the writing is. Write about what has you blocked, write about what you think could cause it. Write about your characters, their situations, their homes….write about the part of the story you are in. Explore if you would be able to write other stuff. If you think you would, you know what your step four will be.

Writing what you can. If you can write, even another section, then do so. If you can’t, then journal until you can better understand either what is causing it, or how you can fix it.

Writer’s Block is our own brain causing a problem. Our own brains have the solution.

Many people will suggest things like, make a cup of tea, drink some water, go for a walk, do a quick work out…

All of these are nice methods, but I personally have never found this to actually address this problem with Writer’s Block, meaning it will just come back, sometimes worse than before.

That is a giant waste of time and writers already never have enough time.

This method helps you understand if you ACTUALLY have writers block, and if you do, how to truly fix it, and have less chances of it coming back later.

Writer’s Block, in its true form, is a nightmare, and it steals the dreams, creativity, and drive from many a gifted creator.

Don’t let it win.

Thanks for fighting the good fight against Writer’s Block, and, as always…

Thanks for Reading.

❤️

Abbi