Writing A Book

We all have to deal with writer's block from time to time. In fact, as I started this article, I was staring at a blank document and wondering just what to say. It seems that words on a page beget other words on that page, and that no words on a page can act like a brick wall. How do you overcome these blocks? Let's see if we can answer that question...

Often, the simplest and easiest way to overcome your block is to just sit and write about anything that comes to mind, even if it's not what you were intending to write. As I mentioned above, just simply putting words on a page will often stimulate the creativity in your brain and guide you down the correct path to writing what you need to write. Sometimes, we paralyze ourselves with overanalyzing and overthinking about what we want to write.

Another way to get your creative juices flowing is to refer to your outline (you do have an outline, right?). This will help you to organize your thoughts and put you into the proper frame of mind to write. If you find you just cannot start at the beginning, then start on another part of your project. It may be that you are better prepared to write some other part of the project, while your mind subconsciously works out the problems of another area.

A third way of dealing with writer's block is to step away for a little bit and do some exercise. I find that going outside and taking a 20 minute walk while letting my mind wander almost always does the trick. I may not even spend any time thinking about what I want to write, but somehow the words get found through the process.

The next time you find yourself the victim of a writer's block, give one of these techniques a try. I'm sure that you'll find that at least one of them will work for you. Every writer experiences this from time to time, even the great ones. It's your ability to deal with writer's block proactively that will separate you from the "wannabe" writers.