Everyone encounters it at one moment or another. Most of us write about writer's block more than we write about anything else. The easiest way to deal with it is to understand exactly what happens when it traps you.
1. Denial.
You don’t have writers' block, you tell yourself daily. You can see the exact idea right now. It’s an amazing idea, shimmering bright before you. OK, maybe you can’t see it clearly, but you know it’s there. Kinda. I mean, your last idea was great! And you had it just the other day. Or was it last week?
2. Bargaining.
Otherwise known as the bribery stage. This is the moment when you tell yourself that you’ll write 500 words a day. The moment you miss that mark on the first day, you lower it. It was because you set the word count too high, not because you didn’t write enough. 300 words is way more attainable.
This stage can cycle an unlimited number of times, but the bribes change each time. If you write 400 words, you can get Starbucks. If you write a page you can binge watch "Orange Is The New Black" for the third time. But you really know that you’re going to do whatever you want while your notebook gathers dust.
3. Depression.
Who knows how long it’s been, now. Maybe just a week, maybe a month. Maybe it’s been a whole year. All you can do is focus on how long it’s been since you’ve last written a single word. This is where you question if you’ve chosen the right major. How can you be a writer if you don’t actually write?
4. Anger.
The time of bitterness settles in suddenly. Who cares if you don’t write anything Certainly not you. You don’t care at all. All you care about it is doing anything other than writing. Writing is so overrated. But then you read something amazing, and you just get angrier. You could’ve written that if you would just get off your butt, you stay to yourself as you remain sitting.
5. Acceptance.
This is it. The final stage. You’re exhausted from fighting against yourself, and you’re depressed from not fulfilling your goals. Yet one day, out of the blue, you’re OK. You finally realize that it’s OK if you don’t write something every day, and it’s OK if you’re not writing at all, right now. You have life going on around you, taking care of yourself and focusing on other things is what you need to do. And there is nothing wrong with that. Writer’s block is just another part of life, and you’re handling it wonderfully.
