Writers Block

[chaoticfirefly]

When you get writers block, how do you get rid of it?

 

[BleedingHeart]

When you get writers block, how do you get rid of it?

By writing.
And no, I'm not saying this to be a jerk.

A quote by Phillip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials:
"Writer's block…a lot of howling nonsense would be avoided if, in every sentence containing the word WRITER, that word was taken out and the word PLUMBER substituted; and the result examined for the sense it makes. Do plumbers get plumber's block? What would you think of a plumber who used that as an excuse not to do any work that day?

The fact is that writing is hard work, and sometimes you don't want to do it, and you can't think of what to write next, and you're fed up with the whole damn business. Do you think plumbers don't feel like that about their work from time to time? Of course there will be days when the stuff is not flowing freely. What you do then is MAKE IT UP. I like the reply of the composer Shostakovich to a student who complained that he couldn't find a theme for his second movement. “Never mind the theme! Just write the movement!” he said.

Writer's block is a condition that affects amateurs and people who aren't serious about writing. So is the opposite, namely inspiration, which amateurs are also very fond of. Putting it another way: a professional writer is someone who writes just as well when they're not inspired as when they are."
— Philip Pullman

 

[miss-a]

Also, according to Anne LaMott, you're not really blocked sometimes but rather, you are empty and need to be filled back up, i.e. take a walk in nature, read your Bible, do something that recharges you, and then go back to the computer and write. Sometimes there's a bit of burn-out involved. As depicted above, we need to not use this as an excuse not to write, but taking a re-charge break can help.

 

[BleedingHeart]

Also, according to Anne LaMott, you're not really blocked sometimes but rather, you are empty and need to be filled back up, i.e. take a walk in nature, read your Bible, do something that recharges you, and then go back to the computer and write. Sometimes there's a bit of burn-out involved. As depicted above, we need to not use this as an excuse not to write, but taking a re-charge break can help.

Yes, recharge if you need too. But try not to rely too much on your desire to be inspired to write, or whatever you are writing won't get written. I wrote an 800 page book over the course of 4 years and much of that time I was slogging through it the way a person might slog through a river made out of solid concrete. Sometimes a setting change can help. I noticed that when I took my laptop to the campus or to my mom's house that the writing would come easier, but maybe that was because I had gotten into easier segments of the book at the time.

 

[mgs_pepe]

Simple, do writing on another project.

 

[heron]

Simple, do writing on another project.

Ditto. My best release of stress or lack of inspiration is to start a new project, even if I don't have time to add something new.