Have you ever sat staring at the blank white paper in front of you and froze? The grand idea and creativity that you had a moment ago has dissolved into a slobbering incoherence. Well, your not alone. That blank page is the leading cause of brain freeze in our country but there are treatment options available!
Stop doubting yourself! – Quit asking yourself the following questions:
- Am I a real writer?
- Will anyone ever read what I write?
- What if the critics hate it and me?
- What if I fail?
Every writer in the world has those thoughts at one time or another whether it be Steven King or a first time writer. Its natural and the only way to get past those doubts is to sit down and write. The only way you can fail at writing is to quit trying.
Try Free writing – This has worked for me. I am a planner but I found that if I completely planned out what I would write then I become bored and lose interest. There were no surprises. Instead, I get a loose idea of what I will write like the big opening and ending. Then I set the clock to a deadline of one hour and write. For that hour I cant stop, edit anything or read over what I have written. When I am finished I have a lot of content to read over and sculpt into something legible. You will be surprised at what you will come up with when the brakes are off.
Write an outline - Yes, this is the opposite of number 2 but different strokes for different folks. If the above method is too loose and you need more of a plan then by all means write an outline. Many writers feel more comfortable fleshing out an outline point by point so they can see where they are in the process. Also, your outline will get rid of that pesky blank paper for you.
Get a writing prompt – These are the germ of an idea that gives the starting point to a story. By taking one of these and writing the story to go with it, you can kick start those brain cells. This is not just for creative writers, many technical writers can benefit from this exercise to strengthen their writing muscles. I have begun posting a writing prompt every Friday and you can find last weeks here or you can checkout the Newbie Writers page for more.
Journaling – I called it journaling for the guys because we don’t need no stinking diaries but it is essentially the same thing. When you write about your daily life you get used to writing everyday. That way when it comes time to write an article or a website landing page, you are already primed and ready to go.
Hope that helps you to break through your writers block. Now I have to get back to my journaling…Dear Diary, today i wrote about…
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