Being Proactive to Beat Writer’s Block
This happens to me all the time. Ideas are flowing. I have the perfect story in mind, or my thesis materializes itself in my head. But the second I sit down to write I blank. I don’t know if it’s looking at the empty page and realizing that I have to fill this whole page with words, or if I don’t have any ideas at all.
The main goal out of all these tips is to get the writer up and away from their work. Taking a break and doing some physical activity does help a lot. And Freewriting is a great way to begin the process of writing. Through freewriting, the writer can explore new themes and ideas.
However, the article “How to Beat Writer’s Block” by Maria Konikova in the New Yorker offers a different means of overcoming writers block. The article looks at how a dream journal kept by a man named Graham Greene helped him beat writes block proactively.
Greene kept a dream journal since the age of 16, and that journaling provided to be a saving grace for him years later states Konikova.
It was turning back to an old journal that helped Greene develop new ideas. Personally, I have been doing something similar to what Greene did.
What I do, and what I challenge others to do when they feel blocked, is to keep a journal with them at all times and write down anything they hear, think, or see that might be interesting. These can range from quotes to ideas for a short story.
Keeping the journal has a freeing aspect. You don’t need to share these ideas with anyone other than yourself and you can write whatever you want. There is no deadline in this journal. The things you write are yours alone to come back to later when you need the inspiration.
For example, in my journal I have quotes from teachers and public speakers. I have song lyrics and dreams. I even have quotes from books and random sentences I hear people say around me. Having access to a journal has allowed me to write down an entire poem that came to me right after I woke up.
This journal has helped me finish that paper with a deadline quickly approaching or get started on that poem or even helped me to organize my ideas before a research paper.
For me, beating writers block is about being proactive. It’s about giving myself some ideas already started before writing. And on the off chance that even this does not work, there is nothing better than reading a good book or going for a nice hike to clear my head.
@unbounder
