Let's face it, writer's block happens to the best of us, and at the worst times too. It feels like every time I have tried to sit down and write these past few months, I couldn't put the words to paper. It happened when I was trying to write fun articles, and it happened when I tried to write a psychology paper. For some reasons, I had the words, but couldn't get them out.
As I struggled with writer's block, I tried different things on how to combat it. As with testing out many things, there is a lot of trial and error. Some friends suggested taking a walk to clear my head, but for me, it only reminded me of how much I had to get done, so I sat in front of my computer and turned off all distractions. I found that forcing myself to face the problem of writer's blocked actually opened up my ideas. I told myself that I wouldn't be able to do anything else until I completed my psychology paper. I suppose that forcing my brain to face the problem rather than just telling myself I could do it later when I couldn't think of anything, it forced me to say what I wanted to say.
Usually, writer's block is more prominent when one has to come up with the subject of the paper in the first place. What I've found is that being more aware of possible ideas help me later. What I mean is that if I see something in the news that might be a good reactive piece, I take note of it, so that when I sit down to write later, I have an idea of what to try out first. I also tend to make theories on T.V. shows that I watch and talk about "what ifs" for certain characters with my friends. I then try to take note of the observations I had and the reasoning I had a theory and jot it down before I forget. Another way that I've found helps coming up with ideas on what to write about is simply writing notes I've had throughout the day. For example, I might think about how tired I am and write about how important sleep is, or I heard an inspirational quote and wanted to add on or react to it.
If you're writing something such as an argumentative paper, try finding supporting research first before taking a stance. I find that it's easier to write around evidence that you already have rather than taking a side and attempting to find articles that support your opinion.
If you're stuck in your writing, there are a lot of different things that you can try to combat the writer's block. What worked for me, may or may not work for you. Experiment with other ideas as well, and I'm sure that you can write yourself out of that rut in no time.
