It's no surprise that this article comes from a place of need. I need to complete an article, and I'm stuck. I don't know what to write about.
Blank pages are no fun, and I've been staring at one for over 45 minutes. That's right — for almost an hour I've sat and looked at a mostly white screen, pushing my brain to figure out something even halfway thought-provoking at 3:13 a.m. when all I want to do is sleep.
The cursor blinks, and it taunts me. With every blink, all I can see is "failure" and "stuck" and "wrong." Words deserve to be on a page, and they are getting stuck somewhere in my wrist, and so my fingers awkwardly tap on the keyboard without knowing what to really write.
This begs the question of solving writer's block. Google, my long term and most trusted source of information here at college, was the opposite of helpful as the black hole of the internet just offered more ways to procrastinate putting off the actual activity of writing.
And so, to any of you who also deal with writer's block, I have a few words of wisdom for you.
1. Start writing.
If, like me, you can't think about anything except being stuck, write about being stuck. Write about the way you fall out of productivity slowly, then all at once, hitting a wall that leaves you a mushy glob of three different articles, all vastly different, and each more pathetic and desperate than the last.
2. Google "Interesting Writing Prompts" or "Book Prompts" and start writing.
Write about two private investigators hired to kill each other. Write a children's book. Write about how two teenagers befriend the Grim Reaper and become immortal. As hard as it is to "just start," just start. Pick a topic, and start writing. Start with "I don't know what to write." Rant about your day or your week or how no one ever keeps New Year's resolutions.
3. Leave the keyboard.
Forcing words never feels good, but sometimes it's counterproductive. Take the dog for a walk. Go for a run. Go throw ice at a tree. Write all your frustrations on an egg and launch it across a field (or don't throw it and use the egg as a base to start writing on paper). Have a paint war, shop for a new notebook, devour some soul food. Read. Listen to an audiobook or some music.
4. Don't beat yourself up.
You're human, and writer's block happens. Don't compare yourself to other writers who "never" get writer's block. Remind yourself that your brain is imperfect. After all, if every idea was easy and perfect from the beginning, there's no creative fun in being a writer.
5. Be imaginative.
Come up with a character based on your worst enemy, or best friend, or that weird guy in the background of your Snapchat. Murder him/her in the most gory way you can think of. Teach them how to climb a mountain. Write about fighting over a guy. Or about how the smallest mistake- plucking the wrong color flower for your girlfriend, for instance — can have the biggest impact- for example, forming an underground community dedicated to extinguishing all life from the planet in order to start over.
My point? Just... do. Create. You've got this.
