By Stacey Thompson
WriterÂs block. It happens to the best of us. You may have had a good nightÂs sleep, a comfortable chair, the right resources, and a topic… and yet, your writing muscles refuse to flex, and you are left staring at the flickering prompt at the upper left side of a mostly-empty screen, or driving a hole into your pad with a pen.
Do a Google search and youÂll find that many writers have their own ways of dealing with this creative blockage. ItÂs not exactly a one-size-fits-all proposition, so itÂs a good idea to get as many ideas as possible. Utilizing those bits of wisdom, concoct your own anti-writerÂs-block remedies. Hopefully, one or more of them work.
Let me enumerate mine, and see if any of them work for you:
Unfamiliar Ground
Find a new place to ply your craft. Stand up, pack your mobile writing implements (paper notepad, notebook computer, restaurant receipts, toilet paper, human flesh scroll, etc.) and wander. In my case, I pack my tablet (equipped with a cover/keyboard, because I canÂt type fast on a touch screen), some loose change for coffee, and a Taser pistol (you can never be too careful).
The new sights and sounds definitely help me get out of the funk, and for as long as I find a comfortable spot to whip out my tablet and type away, IÂll be able to get some paragraphs out.
Drop It Like ItÂs Hot
When the first remedy doesnÂt yield any positive result, I just stop trying for the meanwhile and distract my mind with something else entirely. This should be easy for most of us, as the modern world is rife with distractions. You could live your entire life distracted, in fact. Those closest I have come to that is a three hour Fruit Ninja binge on the tablet. Made my fingers hurt, too.
Time out from writing gives the mind some time to recharge and recuperate. Unfortunately, we who write for a living donÂt have the luxury of too much off-time, so this solution may not be the best course of action to take when writing projects are restricted by a deadline.
Get Physical
Corollary to the tip above, go engage in an activity that requires the least synaptic activity. This ranges from sports and fitness-related stuff, to exposing your mind to slapstick, lowbrow, and even outright pornographic stimulation. Nothing is taboo (except if itÂs against the laws of the land, of course)!
Too much of anything can be detrimental, so be sure to set limits to your physical fun-time distractions.
Nothing
Well, not absolutely nothing. Meditation, yoga, drinking tea, isolating yourself in a dark room, or even a light nap are ways you can calm your tempestuous mind and rejuvenate your creative juices. Find a place you can be undisturbed for hours at a time, and proceed with the refilling.
Yeah, it means you have to put away your tablet and other mobile devices.
I hope one of these tips will be the proverbial plunger that will help unclog your creative pipeline!