Writer Wednesday: Writers Block

To a young (frustrated) writer:

Writer's block is real, so don't blame or punish yourself. You'll only exacerbate the problem. A couple things you can try:

1) Julia Cameron's suggestion (The Artist's Way) would be an "artist's date," which essentially means get out of the house. Play. Do anything not writing related to refill your creative well.

​Go somewhere and people watch. Go to a play, an art exhibit, a concert, or a movie. Go play laser tag or paint ball. Go jump on a trampoline or ride a bike. Give your muse a chance to recover. Make it something that works for you and your type of "play."

I've had students go to Painting with a Twist (you, a canvas, and a glass (bottle) of wine. Another student, who is also an actor, was encouraged to Improv a conversation with their protagonist.

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2) My suggestion: write something else, and give yourself permission to write badly, or as Anne Lamott says in Bird by Bird, write a "shitty first draft."
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Write a weird short story, bad poetry, or substandard music lyrics. Sometimes you just need to switch gears until you're ready to work on that project again. I vacillate between Fiction and Creative Nonfiction for this very reason. Sometimes I just need a break (and you might too).

​3) Do something physical. Run, walk, jog, treadmill. There's something about movement that shakes things loose, creatively.

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4) See cartoon below on the potential for the books to write themselves:

‘The novel-writing algorithm’ (for yesterday’s @guardianreview) pic.twitter.com/Kyb1hhNDAU

— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) February 24, 2019

​5) Watch this video of a letter from sculpture Sol LeWitt to artist/friend Eva Hesse. The language is NSF (not safe for work), but it tends to kick creatives where we need it most: