I have writer's block. I am in that place again where no idea seems like a good idea and I am putting myself under immense pressure to magically produce something revolutionary. Writer's block is not an uncommon ailment. Students, bloggers and authors alike can all get smacked with a case of "I literally have nothing to say and I have never had a creative idea before in my life" type thoughts. Because anyone who has ever had to produce a piece before can relate to this, I figured maybe I could offer some tips on how to get the creative juices flowing again, or at least maybe dripping.
Regardless of what you are writing, it can and will feel like the most daunting task. Staying ahead of it always helps, no matter how scary the assignment you are setting out to do. I recently had to write a paper for my philosophy class and because I was so afraid of the prompt, I refused to deal with it until the night before. This made the already irritating paper seem even more impossible. Even if you don't think you have any ideas, try writing. Write out all the junk, allow yourself to complete the bad ideas so that you can get them out of your system. Who knows, one of those less than brilliant ideas could actually be refined into a pretty good one, you just don't know until you give it a shot.
Find things that inspire you and utilize them. What makes you want to create? What makes you feel sad or happy? What excites you? Play music that pumps you up or breaks your heart, whatever will move you to write. Take your laptop outside or to the library, go somewhere that makes you feel charged. Talking to someone about your ideas can help you to see that you are doing better than you realized, and will give you new creative angles you didn't think of. Push yourself to really get into whatever you are writing about, fake the passion until it comes. Get angry or sarcastic, let that passionate voice drive your piece. Writing is always more enjoyable when it's genuine, so find an angle you can care about and run with it.
Eliminating distractions is a necessary evil. When I am writing, I flip my phone over and put it out of easy reach. If you need silence to write find silence, if you are like me and need some background noise, put on some music that you won't have to change or mess with or use a white noise app. It will be tempting to check social media, go eat something or call your mom, but you have got to resist. As I said in my first point, if you leave the assignment for too long it will only get bigger and more stressful.
Writer's block can get any one of us, you just have to power through. You can do it. Your ideas are better then you realize, your talent and creativity is not gone forever. If nothing else you can write a real and humorously honest piece about how you are absolutely stumped for ideas, like me. Remember that everyone struggles with new ideas sometimes but when you finish what you're working on, wow is it going to feel good.
Happy writing!
