CW Room

You feel like a failure. You feel like everything you’ve ever wanted to do is write and yet your brain can’t process your ideas. Your brain isn’t providing enough support for you, and as it is your brain, it must be your fault.

You are yourself, and this is how you’re functioning. You’re making your best efforts, yet they don’t pan out. You want something you’ll never be able to have again, and there’s no hope for you.

How does Writer’s Block Work

Writer’s block doesn’t announce itself, which is inconvenient because it warps the mindset so completely that you never get to notice that it’s just a phase. You start lacking confidence and focus. It feels like nothing you come up with is good enough, which doesn’t matter because you wouldn’t be able to write it to satisfaction anyway.

You can’t remember a time when you could do better, write better, or you do and it makes you feel worse.

That’s the thing about writer’s block. If life was a maze, writer’s block would be an additional wall that shouldn’t be there and makes the maze impossible to win.

Why Do You Have Writer’s Block?

Firstly, because you’re a writer. You love writing, you’ve done it before, which makes you a writer. If you didn’t love it this much or you hadn’t written before, you wouldn’t be. But alas, as you are in this situation, you can successfully call yourself a writer.

Secondly, you’re actually not at fault at all. Writing happens to be a form of self expression no matter what you’re writing. It also just so happens that not all mental states or moods are conducive to expressing yourself.

Surely you’ve read works by others that completely embody a state of mind that renders you completely unable to string two words together. That doesn’t decrease your value, but should give you a level of respect for those writers.

Also, it’s worth noting that these writers might have written these emotions after they had become free of them. Writers do that. We finish experiencing something before we write about it. 

That’s where you are. You’re not in a slump, you’re in your Research and Development phase. More accurately, your research era.

Everything you experience now – the difficulty, the struggle, the lack of confidence and inability to focus – will become treasure troves that you are able to pull from when you eventually get out of it and start writing again.

Make no mistake, you will, with time, find yourself out of this slump and everything that caused it. Just as there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, your mind will clear, your situation will improve and you will inevitably pick up that pen again.

How to Beat Writer’s Block

Good question.

Let’s get this out of the way first – time is a big part of the remedy for this condition. That said, will only be time. You can’t sit there and watch TV for six months and expect to be able to your dictionary to expand. What you need is brainfood. Activities that will grow, prod it, and almost exercise your mind.

1- Reading

Reading is of course a go-to. Reading is mostly a mental activity. You use your imagination as you concentrate on a story and process well constructed sentences that have been written successfully.

It doesn’t matter what type of book you’re reading, but you should definitely try to keep a diverse selection – or a wide range of sub-genres in whatever genre you hope to be a part of some day. As in, if you’re hoping to write the greatest romance of the century, consume the wide range between Pride and Prejudice and anything Colleen Hoover.

Reading just one type of book might be fine, but it definitely won’t be an efficient use of your research and development era – and if you’re having writer’s block, then you’re feeling significantly unproductive. Use your research era efficiently!

2- Write (I’m sorry, I know.)

Just say anything. It doesn’t have to be a full sentence and it doesn’t have to be serious. Anything. When I had writer’s block, I wrote a sentence every other day along the lines of “I’m not sure what to write” or “I can’t think, help.”

Eventually, you graduate to longer sentences, but it takes time. This whole process takes lots of time, so don’t worry. That said, don’t for a second think that this is going to be some sort of inspirational movie scene where you write single hopeless sentences everyday until one day it just clicks and you’ve got a best seller book on your hands.

Writing is a serious muscle and it takes tons of exercise before you get there. Just start slow and work your way up. Don’t think about it too much.

3- Go with the Flow

You might’ve been writing diaries since you were a child. You might’ve been writing character stories and backgrounds, or horrific one-liners, or even raunchy sketchy stuff.

You didn’t just have movie-worthy inspired moments and put your nose into those pages. You liked an idea and you went with the flow.

To me, going with the flow is hardest to do when you’re aware that all you want to do, your entire mentality and future rests on feeling easy and breezy enough to just go where the wind takes you.

That’s just what happens when you’re a writer – you can’t stop picking apart emotions and analysing them. Even if it’s an emotion that hinges on not analysing anything.

Paradoxically, the only way to begin writing is to stop analysing so hard. Imagine a sweater with a single thread poking out. You pull at the thread and suddenly the whole sweater is being undone.

That’s what you need to do, because that’s what you did before the block. You had an idea and went with it. You never tried to make it into something bigger or plan out your entire retirement plan with this idea, you just wrote your thoughts down.

All you did was pull at a string. You went with the flow. Trust that your mind is doing enough for you right now. Your mind has everything you need. Your job isn’t to distrust it or estimate it’s abilities. Your job is to just move your limbs in response to your thoughts and see what comes out in the end. Trust that whatever comes out will be you in your purest form.

4- Mental Health is Key

This is the main cause of your writer’s block, so do not underestimate the power of putting your mental health first. Take a step back, take the time off. Spend your time doing face masks, or reading for leisure or taking walks.

See a therapist, travel, do anything you can to just chill out. Personally, I find a warm bath a sheet mask can do wonders. They can, but I don’t have a bath. In fact, I’ve only ever had a bath for one single lonely year in my adult life.

Walks, music, learning a new skill. Do anything but sink into TV shows – because that is absolutely a sinking ship. I’m not saying don’t watch anything, but maybe decrease your intake of reruns and comfort shows as much as you can.

Anyhow, do what you can to take care of your mental health. It may seem counter productive, but this step is absolutely the most important in your process. Take the time off and focus on yourself for as long as it takes. Trust that you will come back naturally without any self-coercion on your part.

5- Remember Why You Write

Are you just expressing yourself? Are you hoping to be acknowledged as a writer? Are you trying to publish a book? Are you trying to be famous? Do you want to be Charlotte Brontë, Shakespeare or even JK Rowling? Do you want to start a business? Do you want to earn by writing? Do you want people to read your words? Do you want your message out there?

Why are you here? Say it loud and proud, because there’s no shame in it! You being in this position mean that you care. If you care this much, then who cares what anyone else thinks?

This is your fuel. Don’t forget why you started. Don’t forget why you’re here, trying to write. You have something to say, so just say it. Your expression will count for something because there’s only one of you. The only way anyone will get to read something of your personality is if you write it.

It doesn’t have to be right now, but do keep in mind that why you write. Why you want to write, is the greatest source of energy that you will ever have.

Seriously, Time

You’ve already got so much on your mind, so much to worry about. Fortunately, this doesn’t meed to be one of them. Time will take care of it, just go take care of your mental health. Read a book. Enjoy your time as you are now.

As time passes, your life will change even if in minor ways. Do not allow yourself to share the burden of an eternal concept of the world that’s older that you, me or even earth. Just let it be and go with the flow.

Thanks for reading 🙂