Writer's Block

[WriterAtTheSea]

This is a touchy subject for any writer... especially if you ever battle with writer's block. I have had a number of people lately mention issues with having writer's block, so I thought I would bring it up for discussion here. What are some of the ways you deal with "writer's block?" Any viable solutions to this stop of creative flow?

I have suggested to many that they take a break from writing... Go for a walk, do something completely different, take a nap, etc. I have noticed in my own writing experience, the times (which thankfully aren't many) that I experience writer's block is when I am:

a. overtired
b. stressed
c. have too much on my mind
d. haven't eaten enough protein
e. had little to no exercise

Often if I break from the project, go take a short nap, walk around the block, go on the treadmill, etc... basically do anything that will work toward clearing my head...I have found that seems to break the block, and I can write freely again.

[Faig M]

The strange thing, one will also often experience the writer's block when one is too much into the subject one wishes to write about. Odd as though it may sound, taking your subject too close to heart keeps you from writing about it and it is not just because not everyone dares spill their hearts on paper (or word processor :-)).

Especially if the subject is painful or otherwise emotionally demanding, as the case may be (and I think no subject that is emotionally demanding is worth writing about in the first place), the way to avoid the writer's block is to distance oneself from it. Let it sweep over you, wait till you calm down, and then write. Some might thinkn that this kills the freshness; so I used to do. But it actually doesn't.

Feeling is living. But you cannot live and write at the one and the same time. Writing is the dead souls' business -- if only we are talking about a momentary death, the time-out we take to convert our emotions and thoughts in verbal lines.

[WriterAtTheSea]

That is a great point Faig M...although I personally have not encountered issues with block as related to subject familiarity. It really is more when I am stressed or overtired. That seems to space me out faster than anything. :)

[Faig M]

Poetry might be the only exception to the rule. Then again, your first draft will require further polishing -- and it, too, will require working in cold blood. Meaning, being dead.