BookPleasures.com - http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher
How to beat writer’s block: 25 proven strategies that work Contributed To Bookpleasures.com By William Little
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/7620/1/How-to-beat-writers-block-25-proven-strategies-that-work-Contributed-To-Bookpleasurescom-By-William-Little/Page1.html
William Little

William Little is a journalist and author. He has written for the BBC, Guardian as well as being the author of The Psychic Tourist, which investigated whether its possible to see into the future. William is also the creator of the writing aid, Stop Procrastinating, which helps writers set writing goals and block distracting websites for a period of up to 24 hours. It says it has helped him to write more.



 
By William Little
Published on August 3, 2015
 

Does writer’s block exist? For more than 60% of writers it does, according to our survey at Stop Procrastinating, the productivity website and website blocker. But as with most conditions there’s a spectrum where some writers may find it difficult to write for a few hours or days and all they need is to adjust their way of thinking, while for other writers the problem may have set in for longer.



Does writer’s block exist? For more than 60% of writers it does, according to our survey at Stop Procrastinating, the productivity website and website blocker. But as with most conditions there’s a spectrum where some writers may find it difficult to write for a few hours or days and all they need is to adjust their way of thinking, while for other writers the problem may have set in for longer.

Thankfully, no matter on which end of the writer’s block spectrum they were on, the survey found that all of the writers beat their creative block. The survey also captured the strategies that the writer’s used so effectively to oil their creative juices.

Here’s the full list of strategies the writers’ used. It’s an interesting mix of creative motivation techniques and unorthodox routines. The survey has also been designed into an accessible infographic, which can be found here.

The survey found that the causes of writer’s block were mainly high expectations, fear of failure and pressure of unrealistic deadlines. They got around these barriers using the following:

Scientific studies have shown that creative activity in the brain is highest during and immediately after sleep. Our study confirmed that writers who changed the time of day they wrote to early in the morning beat their writer's block. 55% of writers who wrote early write better and more often.

While some writers can produce all day, the majority create better work by limiting the hours that they write to a maximum of three or four hours a day. Many writers set a deadline and a time limit so they were more focused. This worked well for 23% of writers surveyed. Setting a deadline and a time limit makes you more focused.

Cutting the internet connection gave 47% of respondents a creative boost. They were no longer tempted to browse the internet or answer an email when the going got tough. They perservered, problem solved and finally discovered a solution to their writing conundrum which wasn’t Googling funny cat videos.

Many writers imagined writers like most job, where getting up in the morning and going to work isn’t always what you want to do, but you have to do it anyway. Many writers in the survey realized that they needed to treat writing like any other job and be more disciplined about it. 34% who thought of writing as a daily job wrote more.

Putting their writing to one side for a period of time helped. 32% of writers who put their work away came back with more ideas for how to improve it.

About a fifth of writers complained living in the city meant they spent a lot of their time procrastinating. The city provided them with an abundance of distractions. The playwright Jez Butterworth wrote his award-winning play Jerusalem after he moved to the countryside. Before, he said, he’d spent most of his time hanging out in bars or cafes talking with friends.

Some 18% of respondents to the survey told themselves to toughen up and get over their self-pity. One writer used a daily affirmation: “You aren’t a writer unless you write. Inspiration is 99% sweat, ditch the self-pity, no more excuses, write and be brilliant or just burn what you've written!” It did the trick.

Stop when the going is good is a tried and tested technique that works. 64% of writers revealed their writer’s block disappeared when they stopped writing when it felt good instead of when they were struggling to write.

A change of scene or activity worked wonders for 56% of respondents. Go for walk, bake a cake, make a drink, just move away from the desk and stop writing.

About 24% broke the task of writing down into manageable-sized chunks, just like the greater writer Mark Twain advised.

Others followed the advice of another great writer, John Steinbeck. At least 5% of writers imagined writing a letter to a friend or a relative to help them think more creatively.

About 33% of writers lowered their expectations of their first draft and their writing became more enjoyable.

Jotting down notes anywhere and anytime worked well for 9% of survey respondents. They taught themselves to keep notes and write whenever they were inspired. That sometimes meant scribbling on loo paper or over the back of a cereal packet.

Some 45% of respondents said that disciplining themselves to write at the same time every day had an major impact on their creativity. Only a few took the drastic option of a cold shower. 4% of the most hardy of writers believed giving themselves this type of short sharp shock to get their creative juices flowing again.

Brainstorming was another useful tip with 17% of writers said they weren’t constrained by the page in front of them. They wrote in scraps, notebooks and threw it all together at the end.

About 8% of writers listened to music while they worked. Many said classical music worked well as the lack of lyrics didn’t distract them and the music put them into a lower trance state allowing them to access their imagination far more effectively.

Writer’s block can also be over thinking. You need to take it easy and stop worrying. Enjoy it. Know that every professional great writers suffers the up and downs of writing. 6% said they thought less and wrote more.

One writer gave themselves a pep talk that worked like a miracle. She told herself: “Overcome writers block by putting one word in front of the other to create a sentence and then a paragraph, before you know it you’ve got a page and you can congratulate yourself by no longer having writer's block.”

Some 15% said they lied down and visualised their characters before writing, which boosted their output.

A small furry animal can lower expectations, reduce anxiety and give yourself something to focus on other than writing. Apparently 9% of writers took a break and talked to your cat or walked the dog.

Building up a sweat was also effective. 27% of respondents said they took up exercise in order to boost their energy levels and oxygen to the brain.

Mindfulness meditation helped some writers. About 6% of writers overcame their block, saying that meditation allowed them to expand their mind through peaceful contemplation.

At least 20 respondents wrote in bed or even under the covers, while 16% or 160 did the walk and talk. They called this the West Wing model of creative writing where they walked and talked into a Dictaphone.

So there we have it. The full 25 tips to have writers beat writers block. Not all the tips will work for everyone, but they’ll be at least one that will work for you when you’re facing a blank sheet of paper and a blank mind.