Clearing the writer’s block that hinders content creation

When was the last time you had the intention to post a new content to your blog and discovered that you couldn’t get past the blog title? Well it may have happened not once but so many times before.

For most people it might be a frequent occurence. For others, it happens from time to time. But practically all writers experience this break in continuity. The experience can be described as a slow down process in which your creativity is being

held captive or taken out of you so

much that you’d want to do anything to get it back. But then you find yourself powerless to do anything. And so you live with the hope that it doesn’t last.

Times like these can put to test your ability to craft and publish new content for your site visitors. This is because what you are going through is a feeling that won’t let you do much to help your audience.

This moment of time when your creativitiy is down and writing a blog means sweating hard to find words can be described as a writer’s block. This blog will look into the mysterious world of the writer’s block by covering

1. What is a writer’s block
2. Does it exist
3. How does it manifest
4. What causes it
5. How to overcome it

What is a writer’s block?

A writer’s block is simply that moment in time when your desire to produce new content is met with difficulty simply because

Your creative drive grinds to a halt and you can’t think of what to write.

You want to write but get stuck and postpone writing for some other time

Self-doubt sets in making you think that you won’t get too far with your post.

Does it exist?

The existence of a writer’s block brings two opposing view points. While one view says it exists, the second view says it doesn’t exist. If you are not opposed to the existence of a writer’s block then you should know that for those

who sustain that it doesn’t exists, it is simply an excuse. And that is because if a writer’s block were a physical condition, then it would be easy to say it was, for example, a “knee injury”, a “knife cut”,etc and so on.

But it presents itself as a mental conditioning of your creativity. And since it is a mental state, to some it could be a made up excuse for not wanting to write. And there are so many of them, like Jeff Goins of goinswriter.com who think of it is an excuse and nothing else.

He shuns at the idea of writers complaining about having blocks and can’t imagine why as he puts it, they

“speak of being prevented from their work by an invisible and all-powerful force beyond their control.”

A writer’s block for him then is as he puts it,

” a condition that exists entirely in your head. That wall you’re building is made of air, not bricks. But when we believe this lie we tell ourselves, it becomes real.When we think we are blocked, we become blocked.”

But he’s not the only one who thinks that way. From Letterpile.com comes this article by Nicole canfield. As an author of three books, she believes that a

“Writer’s block is a fable. A lie. A cop out writers will tell themselves when they feel stuck in a certain passage or when they’re feeling less inspired than usual.”

To her a writer’s block is a

“negative phrase and if you use it, you are only self-perpetuating the cycle of being ‘stuck’ in your writing.”

However a writer’s block is looked at, if you have it then there must be some way of knowing when you have it and exactly how it manifests itself.

How does it manifest?

So how does a writer’s block manifest? If you are sitting at your screen right now and don’t know what to write, perhaps you could be tired, nervous, agitated or you’re just not concentrating enough.

You then find ways to distract yourself a bit before you start writing again. But then the distraction does little or nothing to help you and so you are still stuck at what to do. A few days on and you still find yourself in the same situation.

Could this be the way a writer’s block manifests? If so then the impression is that there is an underlying cause behind it.

What causes it?

If there is a cause to help you understand what you are going through, this may be difficult. And to think of a single cause as being responsible for a writer’s block gets many people associating it with problems in other areas of their life such as

a) Depression

b) Ill health

c) Stress and

d) Personal issues

While these maybe causes that can affect continuity, a writer’s block for you may perhaps be just that you can’t find what to write about or tyou are still juggling with the direction you want your post to go.

As a blogger you are writing articles that will help visitors to your site benefit greatly. But as sometimes happens, you may run out of ideas and may decide on a random topic.

“Let me just write about this or that.” is the way you might put it.

Choosing a random topic is much like starting a new course where you learn the basics and from the basics you jump into

the fundamentals and so on. What this means is that you are going to find difficulty coming up with a creative way to write about the topic and turn it into something your audience will enjoy reading.

This will put a halt on your creativity until you understand how best to write it. One blogger affirms that writing about anything must come from the heart and move upward to the mind.

But while this is understandable, the real causes of writer’s block are said to be found in the mindset that each person has. Here are just four mindset patterns that hinder creativity allowing for a writer’s block

Fear

The fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of not getting it right. When you place fear before you in whatever you’re doing, you create the conditions for your own setbacks and in the case of a writer’s block, your fear is playing a big role in strenghtening the block.

Procrastination

Most people find it hard to ever complete something. This is because they keep postponing what they are doing for some other time in the future. This is procrastination and it can also be the reason why you have a writer’s block. And it might be the reason why your creativity keeps waning.

Focus

Focus is necessary if there must be continuity but focus can be disrupted by continuous distractions that take away time and the need for concentration. This slowly turns down your creative ability leaving you with a writer’s block.

Higher expectations

If you are expecting to do great things then you need to set standards that will reflect the greatness you want to achieve. If you are aiming too high and this is not reflecting in your ability then you will get stuck along the line.

How to overcome it

If you have ever experienced a writer’s block, you may have come across the many suggested ways to overcome it. Most of the ways to overcome a writer’s block talk of taking time off to do other things such as

a) Going for a walk

b) Playing your favorite music

c) Reading your favorite book

d) Doing exercises,etc and so on.

While they might be helpful to most people, to others they simply don’t work to take away the block. This gives the impression that a writer’s block affects people differently and so a multitude of helpful ways to overcome it is needed.

But that might not be necessary ! This is because each and every individual knows or should know how they feel or what they feel when that moment comes.

And so you should know when you are beginning to manifest the signs of waning creativity in you such that what you could write so easily becomes difficult and almost impossible to write.

This calls for a kind of reality check to understand the nature of the problem. You can do that by trying to find answers to the follow five questions

1. Why have I suddenly lost the appetite for writing?
2. What is really distracting me or making me feel I can’t write?
3. Why do I suddenly feel I am not doing a very good job?
4. Why do I feel that my writing won’t make a good impression?
5. Where exactly is the problem coming from?

Asking these questions can help you to find out what exactly is going on with your creative ability to write. Once you are able to know the origin of your particular block you can then find ways to overcome it by dealing with the very problem you have identified.

Final Words

Having a writers block is not the end of writing. If you have it and think this is the end, just know that some of the most famous writers in the world have also had their own fair share of writer’s block.

What you need to do is to keep on writing no matter how senseless your writing may be. The word you type out don’t have to make sense but only guarantee that you have continuity in your writing. Below are two quote to help motivate you. So keep writing.

“If I waited till I felt like writing, I’d never write at all.” — Anne Tyler
“Don’t get it right, just get it written.” — James Thurber

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