Frustrated by writers block

Here's how I deal with writer's block:

1. Solitaire

2. Write a short story (no more than ten pages) with movie, comic, book, or any other characters that you love but did not create. Write about them, see what makes them tick, and it will help you

3. Create another story (OK, you might not want to do this one, but it gets your mind off the one your working on now)

4. Watch TV (yeah, believe it or not, this has snapped my writer's block...I was watching ANTM for crying out loud, so it doesn't matter what you watch)

5. Spider Solitaire

6. Get on the Net

7. Sing

8. Take a walk

9. More Solitaire

So, yeah, most of my cures are kinda random, but I think that's why they work. And I never fully forget about my story. Some people say NOT to think about it, but I personally think that's the biggest mistake you can make. You need to think about it, otherwise it won't get written, you just don't need to stress over it.

I hope these help 'cause they help me. Good luck!

valerielynn82 said:

I recently just started writing again and I'm experiencing writers block. I started a new story this last weekend and I dished out like part of a chapter then I had writers block so I put it down for a while thinking that my writers block would go away. I tried to write some more this morning and I was still having writers block. I wrote a little bit this afternoon and now I have writers block AGAIN!! Its very frustrating!! My question is how can I overcome my writers block? Any tips or ideas for overcoming writers block?

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All right, I'm confused by what you're calling writer's block.

Do you mean that you hit a point where you have to stop and consider what's going on and can't put words on paper anymore? Or are you talking about the dry, empty feeling in the well of your creativity where you can't write anymore?

The first is a natural part of writing. Words don't always flow like water off a duck's back onto the page. Quite often I have to stop and consider what will come next, what word or phrase to use, or if what I just wrote worked the way I wanted to. This isn't writer's block--this is the mental/creative part of writing. Most people need this in order to produce a better story so it's good that you take the time and make it right.

Writer's block, at least as I've experienced it, is a soul-desert feeling where I know everything creative in me had dried up and blown away and no matter how much I love the story, I just cannot continue on because there's nothing left inside me to put on the page. And this feeling has never disappeared overnight or even in the course of a a few days. The shortest time I've ever had it last is 15 weeks. One lady I know had it last over eight years before she could write again--and that's after several years of professional psychiatric therapy.

If you're still able to write after a short span of time, even if it's just a little bit, then I'd suggest that you don't have writer's block. You just need to spend a little more time letting your creative mind work through problems of translating what's in your head to what should go on the page. Sometimes things like solitaire is great for distracting your non-creative side and let your creative side get to work. Above all else, don't push for the word count. Give yourself whatever time/space you need and it's more than probable that what you get on paper as a result will be better.

Good luck to you.