Writer’s block is one of the few words that makes me cringe and gives me war flashbacks. As a person who actually enjoys writing, I’ve come across writer’s block more often than I can count, and every time it gets worse and worse. After being able to read and write for 14 years, I have heard many bits of advice. But I, myself, have found a few ways to deal with writer’s block -- or try to deal with it.
1. You don’t.
There is no escaping it. Writer’s block comes in many different shapes and forms: can’t start a paper, can’t finish a paragraph, can’t find the right sentence. There is no way to avoid any of them and there is rarely a perfect cure that will work all the time -- or maybe at all.
2. It’s impossible.
Writer’s block has no real cure. It affects millions of people every day.
3. You cannot escape it.
Maybe if you stare at the paper long enough you’ll come up with something that vaguely relates to what you’re supposed to be writing? A good tip is to look at the due date for this paper (because, let’s be honest, you may be taking just four classes, but you have 12 papers due tomorrow) and cry over it for a while. Sometimes all the tears could form letters and those letters form words and you can use those words to write. Boom -- no more writer’s block.
Or, you can get up and leave the paper. All you need is five minutes. But five minutes turns into 15 which turns into 30 which quickly becomes the two-hour nap you both do and do not need. At last, you come back to the paper and continue to stare at it. Not only did you take a long nap that you really wish you hadn’t, but now you still cannot think of anything to write. If you’re on a computer, watching the curser blink at you is the same as listening to people laugh at you or watching your grade drop one point at a time.
4. Just stop.
Next, start tabulating just how bad your grade in the class will be depending on how you do on the paper. This could be reassuring or completely heartbreaking, depending on your grades from the rest of the semester. If your professor has a point system set up (475 points = A, 474 to 450 = A-, blasé blasé), they’re aware that students do this on a regular basis and keep the math to a minimum.
5. God bless your soul and your GPA.
The quality of work that writer’s block yields varies from one project to another. Sometimes, writer’s block produces some of the best work you will ever do, while other times everything you have written is one big joke and it pains you to even look at it. You almost want to write your professor a sincere apology for what you have just turned in and offer to make them a batch of cookies. Either way, the next thing you write while dealing with writer’s block won’t turn out the same way.
6. Stop reading this, you lazy animal, and go work on your paper.
Procrastination is mean, a little abusive, and a good-for-nothing bum. You and procrastination are in a relationship and it’s your significant other. Would you allow your friend to be in that relationship? I hope not. And if that is unacceptable for your friend, then it is certainly unacceptable for you. Remember, procrastination is public enemy number one (the only reason it beats writer’s block is because it can be avoided more easily).
