Hello everybody! This is my first article, and as per usual, I have no idea what to write. So, to ease my pain (as well as the collective pain, anguish, and torment of college students everywhere) I have decided to compile a list of five things to do when faced with the dreaded scourge that is "Writer’s Block."
- First, list everything that you are interested in. And I do mean EVERYTHING. It does not matter how embarrassed, curious, or other descriptive adjective you are feeling. If you have a prompt, list everything related to the subject that you can conceivably be interested in. At this point, it is probably far too late into the night right before the essay is due.
- Next, find a variety of news sources. Credible news sources, mind you. The Onion, no matter how humorous, is not a credible source. And despite their efforts, Wikipedia has not yet been deemed credible by academia at large. Maybe in the next 100 years? A newspaper would be a good place to start (and no, not an e-newspaper). That leads me to my next point….
- Read something, like you are doing right now. Even the best authors turn to the works of others to inspire them. Find that one quote that you always loved, put it at the head of the paper, and ruminate on it. A particular favorite of mine is “Only we can decide if the road we walk carries too high a toll.”
- Talk to people. Family members, friends, random strangers, roommates, classmates, teachers, the list goes on and on and on. Don’t just sit there and bemoan that fact that you can’t think. Nothing stimulates the mind better than talking. Except for food. Food always works. Maybe talk and eat at the same time?
- This is the last resort, mostly because by this point you are either a) hating me because my advice has not worked (let the hate comments commence!) or b) dead-in-the-water exhausted at three in the morning with the paper due that day at eight. Write about writers’ block, much like I am doing right now. Seriously. Just write about it.
