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By: Devin Hansen

Whether you write longhand or use a word processor, a time will come when the words won’t come. The empty page gapes before you, a vast expanse of space that seems impossible to fill. Your mind seems thick and heavy, and yet your thoughts are racing: I can’t do this any more. I used up all the words, every last one. And the most maddening thing about writers block is that once upon a time you could fill up the page and it was easy.

Causes of Writer’s Block

Stress is one cause of writers block. Yes, there are dozens of legends about famous writers being able to write thousands of words a day while deeply depressed and high on booze or tranquilizers. Legends are exceptions, and should be regarded as such. For most writers, stress about jobs, the rent money, relationships, and ordinary life creates a mental stew that is detrimental to the act of writing.

Boredom

Boredom is another cause of writers block. The computer desk starts to resemble a cage after awhile, and soon the words curdle in your mind and disappear before they ever make it to the page. The boredom syndrome is possibly the easiest form of writers block to contract, but it is also the easiest to treat.

Fear

Fear is another big one. The writer is afraid of looking like an idiot or screwing up, which is understandable. Less understandable is the writer who is afraid of success or perhaps afraid of the self-discovery that writing promises. Yes, it is possible to fear something new, even if it’s good, and sometimes that kind of fear is very difficult to overcome. Perhaps the worst fear is that of rejection, which can strangle the creative flow.

Cures

All of the cures for writers block boil down to addressing one of the three big causes: reducing stress, relieving boredom or eliminating fear. You can find hundreds of suggestions in writer’s guides or on the Internet, and they all work one or more of the big three. Here are some examples.

Reducing Stress

Schedule a block of time for your writing. The idea here is to give yourself permission to write and not worry about the time that you’re not doing something else. Does it work? Sure. Make that appointment, scratch that, make that date with yourself and show up.

Create a quiet space for your writing, someplace where you can shut out the world and focus on your imagination. This reduces stress by using the out of sight/earshot, out of mind principle.

Change your day job. If you hate your job, get one you like. It sounds easier said than done, but many times making that leap will lead to great benefits in the future. The amount of stress you take home from a job you cannot stand is very corrosive to the creative process in the long run.

Relieving Boredom

Move your writing desk. Even if all you do is turn it around 180 degrees, the change in your writing environment can shake you out of the doldrums which may be causing writers block. A related cure is to switch your writing time, if possible. Swap your morning writing hour for a time later in the evening.

Try a writing exercise. Here’s a simple one. Get a paragraph or so of narration, yours or another writer’s, and re-type the piece starting from the end and working your way back to the beginning. As you work through the exercise, allow your mind to follow the twisted meanings that the reversed word order creates.

Eliminating Fear

Research your topics. When you don’t research your subjects enough, deep down, you are afraid of revealing your ignorance. If you’re afraid of looking like an idiot, do some more research and eliminate that possibility. And this advice works for fiction writers, too.

Separate the writing from the editing. Composition is not the time to be afraid of making mistakes. Worry about fixing the details after you gotten the big picture. Writing, especially the first draft, is all about broad strokes. Come back to polish after you have a rough draft. If you’ve got a case of writers block, you’re not alone. Virtually every writer has contracted writers block. Your writing is not hermetically sealed away from the rest of your life. What you do away from the keyboard will affect your writing either for good or for ill. If you look at writers block as some strange version of the canary that miners carried down in the dark to warn them of dangerous conditions, you’ll not only get the words flowing again, you’ll also improve your life.

About the Author

Devin Hansen: owner of SEO Copywriters www.seocopywriters.com, a web-content development company based in Illinois . With a staff of American writers and editors, they produce high-quality, unique content for any business in any industry.

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