Writer’s block. Unfortunately, we have all been familiar with writer’s block at one point (or many times). We all dread it, but this begs the question – how do you get over your writer’s block? We have put together a guide to refer back to whenever you find yourself in a funk and need some inspiration to get your creativity flowing again!
One thing we can recommend is taking a break from your work to focus on something else for a little while. This might be a hard pill to swallow if you are the type of person who only feels productive while sitting at your desk, but it could be a great thing for you to try out. This could be going outside for a quick walk around the block to get some fresh air or just tidying up something around the house – whatever works for you to get your mind off your project for a few moments and get your blood flowing. And let’s be honest, the likelihood that you’ll come up with a brilliant idea if you sit at your desk for ten more minutes is not very high, so take a break.
Another great idea is getting inspiration from reading other people’s work. At times it is easy to get trapped inside your own brain and it can be hard to think beyond that, so it’s important to look around and read something other than your own work – it may completely open your eyes. Pick up a novel, read a blog post, or even just flip through a magazine.
You could also try writing something that has nothing to do with your current project. Write a quick blurb about how you’re feeling, a short story, a report on something you saw in the news recently, or a journal entry. You will find that writing about something that you don’t “have” to write about will loosen you up and may make your writing come to you a little easier.
Use the people who surround you as your resources. If you can’t think of anything to write about, ask your friends and family about what they want to know more about, something they have been interested in recently, or something they would want to read about. Obviously, you can alter these questions to narrow your subject matter down, but the idea is just to get another perspective. Similar to reading other people’s work, it is very helpful to take a step away from your own mind and see what others are thinking about.
At the end of the day, writer’s block is an inevitable part of the writing process that we will all have to go through at one point. It’s important to remember that you will always work through it and your final product will be amazing, but it’s always nice to have some tricks up your sleeve so that you are prepared the next time you face this challenge!