Stamp Out Writer’s Block
Up front, I have to say one thing: I don’t think Writer’s Block exists. It is a fantasy that we have made up, a mythical fairy tale. In the real world, you are either “writing” or “not writing”.
After all, have you ever heard of a pilot boarding a plane and telling the passengers and crew, “We’re not going to be flying today, because I’m suffering a terrible case of Pilot’s Block”? Of course not. It’s the same for writers. It just may be that you just don’t feel like writing today.
Writer’s block is really only a resistance to writing. Today, I’ll recommend a great resource. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a highly-recommended and very powerful book that can help you break through the myths of writer’s block.
What are some practical tips you can use to break through that resistance, get past Writers Block and get writing?
Use these three tips to break through writer’s block:
Just write SOMETHING. It doesn’t matter what. Write a grocery list, scribble a note to your mom, even fill out a card for a friend. No, I’m not kidding. Write anything, but just write. If you just write something, the simple act of writing can often cut through writer’s block.
Tony Robbins offers three tips to help change your emotional state from nervous to relaxed and confident – pay attention to your focus, your physiology, and your language.
Focus is what you pay attention to. You can choose to focus on your writer’s block, but that rarely makes it go away – in fact, it can make your writer’s block worse than before. Pay attention to something else for a while. Try focusing on something positive, like how great you feel. Focus on the notes for your current project. Even if you aren’t writing, you can still read them.
Physiology – How you use your body. I promise you, if you sit at your computer, slumped over, eyes down, with your chin in your hands, you’re not going to be in the most resourceful state to write. So sit up straight, take some deep breaths, clap your hands together, poise your fingers over the keyboard and get ready to fire off some copywriting brilliance. I know that sounds corny, but try it!
The language you use in your head affects how you feel about a situation. Most people think that is backwards, but it’s not. Perhaps the dialogue inside your head goes something like this: “I’ve got writer’s block, so I must be lazy. I just don’t have the discipline to write, and this proves how lazy and bad I am”. STOP! Torturing yourself never helps. You must change your language, the words you use in your self-talk. What you are experiencing is resistance to writing, and that resistance comes from many sources. Use the tips in this article to help end that resistance and get writing again.
Write about why you’re not writing. Get out your journal, or a legal pad, or your computer and start journaling about why you are not writing. Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep, maybe you had an argument with your significant other…it doesn’t matter. Just start writing about why you’re not writing. In my experience, once you get those thoughts out on paper, you realize how ridiculous they are, you start to laugh, and you find that Writer’s Block is gone.
Can these tips really help? Yes, they can! You see, in my opinion, there really is no such thing as writer’s block. Use these tips to stamp it out for good.
Filed under: Copywriting