Want to KRUSH that Mental Block? Here's What I Do...

So you're stuck...at wit's end...no creative juices left, except for the ones that are slowly drooling out of your mouth as you stare blankly at the screen.  We've all been there, and whether or not it's a tiny block or a mountain of mental blocks, it can put a severe halt to our creativity.

Some have compared a mental block to being THE occupational hazard of writing. I agree!

To begin breaking down your mental block, let me take you on a trip, a Weird Al trip that is (for your entertainment).

EVERYBODY GETS THEM! You aren't alone...just check out some famous guys and gals that have the same problem...

"You can sit there, tense and worried, freezing the creative energies, or you can start writing something. It doesn't matter what. In five or ten minutes, the imagination will heat, the tightness will fade, and a certain spirit and rhythm will take over." - Leonard Bernstein

"I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged. I had pieces that were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out." - Erica Jong

"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work." - Pearl S. Buck

"If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me? You are a human being with a unique story to tell. You have every right." - Richard Rhodes

It happens, and just because it happens to you doesn't mean your a bad writer, or that you should just quit.

Like anything, the first step is recognizing you have a problem!

It's common to have some stumbling blocks here and there trying to think of that perfect adjective or adverb, but we all need to recognize when it becomes a true writer's block. For me, a writer's block entails not only not knowing what to say, but it begins to affect how I feel about my writing, and leads to me questioning everything I have written. A writer's block occurs for an extended period of time (I would say at least a week, but I don't have anything scientific - I just noticed when I can't write for a week, it usually takes a while to get back to it). Finally a writer's block leads to a complete derailment of where you were heading with your writing, coupled with an overall lack of creativity.

THE CURE

There are three things I try to do when I'm hit with the block. The trick is trying one, seeing if it works, and if not, move on to the next thing until you finally break through.  

The three approaches are as follows:

1) Keep writing. But don't worry about making good writing, just write at least a sentence for starters, and then go from there. Even if you are writing about how the butterflies were looking particularly lackadaisical that morning...just write something. The worst thing you can do is write nothing. Don't go longer than a week without writing. Period.

2) Skip it. A lot of times for me, it is just one scene, one sentence, or even one chapter that I just can't wrap my head around for the time being. Even if you end up skipping to the last scene of your book, and writing that, what will happen is you will begin to fill in the gaps in between until you've finally figured out the puzzle. That's the beauty of writing a novel or screenplay...you don't have to write chronologically.

3) Read. If you decide to take the week break...start reading something related to the genre in which you're currently writing. Sometimes for me, it's all I need to trigger some inspiration, or to figure out how to word it just write. 

Those are my three prescriptions for writer's block. Take them or leave them if you will. To finish, here are some famous authors' various cures for breaking the block (see flavorwire.com for the full article)

“What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’” — Maya Angelou

“Suggestions? Put it aside for a few days, or longer, do other things, try not to think about it. Then sit down and read it (printouts are best I find, but that’s just me) as if you’ve never seen it before. Start at the beginning. Scribble on the manuscript as you go if you see anything you want to change. And often, when you get to the end you’ll be both enthusiastic about it and know what the next few words are. And you do it all one word at a time.” — Neil Gaiman

“I encourage my students at times like these to get one page of anything written, three hundred words of memories or dreams or stream of consciousness on how much they hate writing — just for the hell of it, just to keep their fingers from becoming too arthritic, just because they have made a commitment to try to write three hundred words every day. Then, on bad days and weeks, let things go at that… Your unconscious can’t work when you are breathing down its neck. You’ll sit there going, ‘Are you done in there yet, are you done in there yet?’ But it is trying to tell you nicely, ‘Shut up and go away.'” — Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Good luck out there and break the block!

-C