5 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block
November 2, 2022
Hello, world. I’ve missed you!
I tell stories for a living — I’m in content marketing — but let’s face it: As a blogger, I’ve broken every rule since a pandemic and a preschooler and a full-time job swallowed me whole. In fact, while I’ve written or edited hundreds of blog posts for clients and columns for my side gig, Batten Disease News, since the end of 2020, I’ve published zilch on my own blog. Talk about not practicing what I preach. It’s time to get back to it.
I took a long look at what caused my blogging hiatus. While everyone is different, there are some tried and true ways to break out of writer’s block. Here are five strategies I’ll use to supercharge my storytelling.
1. Get moving.
Exercise really is the best medicine. Many years ago, I started running as a way to work through emotional and mental challenges. Running kept me in shape for the soccer field, but it did so much more than that. Studies have shown that physical activity can deliver positive short-term effects and long-term health benefits, from reduced anxiety to improved memory and focus. In my experience, working my legs and heart helped reduce mental clutter and lightened my mood. Running not only helped me write a book and a TED talk, it carried me through devastating personal loss.
Because, science.
2. Play.
A couple of Christmases ago, Mom gave me a box of colored pencils and one of those adult coloring books. I keep the items in my desk drawer, and occasionally, between Zoom calls or blog drafts, I’ll fill in a few petals or waves.
I’ve also been known to spend 15 minutes building a world within the confines of my son’s Brio train table … after he’s asleep. I kick well-loved soccer balls in the grass and swing on the playset while my husband grills.
Adult play is essential for physical and emotional well-being. It helps relieve stress and can even stimulate creativity.
Sounds like a winning combination for a writer.
3. Get a change of scenery.
I’ve spent much of the last three years working from home. I have a wonderful home office with lots of natural light, wall-to-wall books and zero clutter.
But sometimes, when I get mentally stuck, I find that a change of scenery is the best possible move. I’ve worked from my swing, my screened porch and even the third-floor room I call the man cave. I’ve also written book chapters from beach blankets, airport bars and mountain cabins.
4. Put it on the calendar.
At one point in my career as a content writer, I easily averaged 2,000 words per day. When I wrote my memoir, Run to the Light, I pounded the keys for one hour at lunch and, later that night, another couple of hours. At the end of 10 months, I had an edited manuscript. Not exactly NaNoWriMo (the annual event in which writers try to write a 50,000-word novel in November), but with a full-time job, a charity and a race schedule that took me all over the United States, I felt pretty damn proud. Years earlier, as a senior at UNC, I wrote a young adult novel as an independent study project, slipping a new chapter under my advisor’s door every Monday morning.
Life looks a little different for me since I became a mom and took on more responsibilities at my job. These days, if I want to write a blog post or bang out a new website, I’m blocking time on the family calendar my husband and I share. The appointment may say “Laura writing,” but it really means, “I need you to watch our kid.” Meanwhile, during the workday, I do my best to schedule time for writing and editing content. Otherwise, as they say, it ain’t happening.
Unfortunately, creativity doesn’t care about my calendar. Words aren’t well-trained animals, and inspiration strikes whenever the hell it wants. This means that, while I may write for one hour from 2 to 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, I may get complete crap. And crap is a tough pill for a perfectionist to swallow.
That’s why, in my wise middle age, I’m trying to forget about perfection.
5. Forget about perfection.
I’ve always considered myself a perfectionist. Growing up, whether it was my grades in school, my performance in piano competitions, my artwork or my athletic career, I was never quite good enough by my own impossible standards. It was exhausting and, when I started college, even dangerous (I struggled with major depression).
As one counselor put it, “perfectionism is not about striving for excellence but striving for the impossible, unattainable, and ultimately, the unachievable. The truth is perfectionists play a losing game.”
About a year after the birth of my son and the death of my sister happened six days apart, my adrenaline seemed to die, too. I suddenly struggled to find the perfect words. Instead of looking for the right words, I stopped writing for myself. You could say I did nothing in the pursuit of perfection.
Now, I’m intent on accepting the best I have to give each day. Even if it isn’t better than yesterday.
Even if it’s crap.
I’ll just write.
Have you ever struggled with writer’s block or some other form of mobilization? If so, how did you break out of it? Send me a note, and I may feature you on social media.
