What To Do When You Have Writer's Block

A lot of people stop writing when they have writer's block. That's dumb. Writer's block is something everyone gets, and just because you're struggling to write doesn't mean that you can slack off and not try. If that were true, I wouldn't be writing this. So in this lovely listicle I'm going to run through the stages of writer's block (for those of you in denial) and then I'm going to show you the most fool proof and fail safe way to fix it (hint: it starts at step three).

Step One: The beginning of the end.

In this stage you're just sitting down to write something and for whatever reason, the ideas just aren't coming. This is where you get frustrated and start making deals with God, Satan, the Muses or whatever witch cursed you with writer's block.

Step Two: The trap.

This is the most dangerous stage, in this stage you are faced with a big giant fork in the road. You can choose to procrastinate and put off writing for as long as it takes for you to decide to actually sit down and write (warning, this sounds good but it can be days, weeks and or months). In this case, I recommend going to step three.

Step Three: Sit your butt down and write.

Seriously, just sit down and write. What you have to say when you start might not be very good or even on the subject you need to be writing about, but it will get there. And you know what, having something on paper, something tangible and not just in your head is already a million times better than waiting for inspiration. You can wait all you want for the mood to strike, but writing is a skill, it can very well be a talent, and you don't get better or get anything out of just waiting for the mood to strike.

Step Four: Getting super frustrated with what you wrote.

That's just a part of writing. Heck, that's just a part of life. You get frustrated because you expect perfection. So when you hit this step, all you can do is edit, and send it off to a friend to edit. When you send it off to someone, they can help you focus your writing and maybe even give you a new starting point if it's getting to the time where you're stuck again.

Step Five: Feel proud of yourself.

If it's for yourself or for a class, when you finally finish something it's great. Writer's block can seem like the end. When I sat down to write this, writer's block was plaguing me, and I was pretty sure it would take me all day to do this (it didn't f.y.i.). Writer's block happens, but don't let it stop you; teachers, bosses and pretty much everyone else in the world doesn't accept late work and you shouldn't either.