Every writer experiences writer’s block from time to time. However, writers aren’t the only creative professionals that encounter mental blocks. Graphic designers, artists, and chefs also suffer from creative mental blocks occasionally.

The good news is that you don’t have to lose an entire day’s work due to a pesky creativity block. By implementing the tips below, you’ll be able to tear down the dam and allow your creative juices to flow freely.

1. Go for a run. Or a hike. Or mow your lawn. As a creative professional, you likely spend too much of your time cooped up in your studio. Break that habit by seeking inspiration in the beautiful gifts of nature.

* The secret to abolishing your creative block is to get out into the great outdoors and get your adrenaline pumping.

2. Freestyle. If you obstruct your creative process by being too rigid or expecting too much too soon, you’ll send your creative juices into hideout indefinitely. Release the pressure and allow your mind to freely express itself.

* Paint an abstract painting using colors you generally never use. Choose a topic that’s close to your heart and just write the words that come to your mind without editing. Or, doodle in your notepad until an image is just right for your design.

3. Seek inspiration. Every creative professional has an industry hero. For a copywriter, it may be Gary Halbert. A stationary designer may enjoy the work of Nicole Balch. Browse through your hero’s portfolio and become inspired to create your own work.

4. Change the scenery. Your office may be the cause of your creative block. After sitting in the same chair day after day, it can certainly take its toll on your ability to produce. Head to a coffee shop, park, or bookstore for a rush of energy that’ll inspire you to create!

* Consider going to a mom and pop coffee shop rather than a franchise. Coffee houses like Starbucks and Panera Bread can be quite noisy and distracting.

5. Release your inhibitions. Many times, the fear of failure or creating something that isn’t top notch is the only barrier between you and success. Let your insecurities fall by the wayside and create a masterpiece that is divine in your eyes.

* If the piece you create fails to meet your client’s or your boss’ expectations, that’s okay. Nine times out of ten, you’ll be given a second chance.

6. Ask for an extension on your deadline. No client likes to receive material beyond the agreed upon deadline. However, many clients will understand an occasional delay.

* Timeliness is certainly important. However, sometimes an additional week will enable you to produce superb quality work.

* Keep in mind that you’re being compensated for your talents because you possess a valuable skill. Allow this understanding to fuel your confidence.

Creative blocks are like pesky little summer gnats. You can put screens in your windows to keep them out, but a few always find a way to break through the netting. In much the same way, you have little say in when or where your mental blocks appear. All you can do is try to work through them, and strengthen your skills in the interim.

You have the passion to be a writer or a daily blogger. It’s there gnawing at you every moment of every day until you give in and start writing. If you’re not writing, you’re thinking about writing, you’re jotting down ideas, you’re thinking up great blog posts, new angles to share with your readers—this is your life; you are passionate about being a writer—you are a writer.

So what happens when the passion goes to sleep? Has the flame of desire completely gone out and killed all your enthusiasm about writing? Not necessarily. Often, you just need to take a break. Everyone else gets a vacation, there’s no reason a writer can’t take a vacation from work.

Is this another post about writer’s block? Not really. I’m not even sure what writer’s block is, even though I’ve written about it on numerous occasions. I’m starting to think only fiction writers get “the block.” As a freelance writer there isn’t a book or magazine I can’t open and not get an idea brewing. I can write about topics that I have no interest in at all—and I’ve done that. I think it may boil down to passion.

What is passion and what do you do when it just isn’t there? Passion is “any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate“. The dictionary also relates it to strong sexual desire.

Can we relate writing to sex and relationships? I think we can. Writing is like a long love affair or relationship. After awhile, and unless you’re still in your early twenties, you don’t have sex on the brain constantly. It doesn’t mean the relationship has gone bad—it just means other things are allowed to occupy your thoughts. The passion is still there, it’s just taken a back seat for the time being—sometimes you’re just not in the mood. The passion a writer has is the same way. It doesn’t die; it just takes a back seat.

We all have days that we’d rather scrub the toilet or fix the lawn mower than to sit down and write (or have sex). It’s human nature and it’s inevitable. If you’re like me, you may feel like your passion has failed you. It hasn’t, it just needs a break.

How do you get it back? Well, after you scrub the toilet and fix the lawn mower, you write. I know, that’s my answer for everything—but until you try it, you don’t know how powerful it really is. Simple? Not always. I had to force myself to sit down and write—but once the words started flowing it gave me an awesome feeling of power over the passion (or lack thereof).

It doesn’t matter if your passion is waning or if you have full blown writer’s block—the key to this writing gig is to write. My personal journal is full of entries about not wanting to write—often I have a whole week full of entries like this:

“I don’t want to write today. I’m supposed to be a writer, but how can I even call myself a writer if I don’t want to write. Writers are supposed to write—but I’m not writing. I’m sitting here whining into my journal over not writing and not wanting to write. Why don’t I want to write today? No one else is having this problem, they’re all writing.”

When you sit down and write about not writing or even asking yourself how you can call yourself a writer when you aren’t writing—there’s something about seeing your own words rip you to shreds that gets your butt planted in the seat and your fingers on the keyboard. The muse doesn’t like to be scolded.

The muse is like a child. It needs love and affection, but sometimes it needs to be scolded too. When you tell someone they can’t do something, they often become hell-bent on doing the thing they can’t do—just because. It’s like a challenge and they will rise to the challenge. The muse works the same way—if you rip him/her to shreds for not allowing to do what you do, she will usually prove to you that she is still there and willing to work.

If you can’t find the words to write, just write about how bad you suck at being a writer. Sometimes it’s good to piss the muse off.

Be sure to check out my guest post at Storyfix.com: Writing and the Laws of Motion. If you’ve found me through Larry’s site, thanks for the visit and welcome to The Stafford Scribe!

Well there you are stuck again without any thing to write about.  Maybe you missed my other post, Use Mind-Mapping and Analyzing to Help Overcome Writer’s Block, and yes I realize I’ve hit this subject twice in the last two days, but when I began writing about writer’s block I realized it had turned into at least two posts.

If you’ve tried mind mapping and had no luck with it to get yourself writing, I have another writing tip for you; Write about it!  About what you ask?  Write about writer’s block.

Here’s an example:

“Today is Friday, April 10, 2009.  It’s Good Friday and I have writer’s block.  I can’t think of anything to write.  I’ve mulled ideas over in my mind and I’ve tried to convey my message to paper but nothing happens.  So here I sit, once again, knowing I need to be writing but nothing happens.  Maybe I’m trying to hard.  Maybe it’s stress because I know I should write and when I can’t I feel guilty about it.  I should go read a good book because it usually sparks my creative side and makes me want to write.  Or maybe I should keep writing about writer’s block and try to figure out what’s holding me back.”

Can writing about writer’s block reveal anything to you?  Often times the thing that’s holding us back will emerge in these free-writing sessions about writer’s block.  In my case, I’ve discovered that sometimes guilt keeps me from writing or it hinders my creative side.

Worrying about getting something written can actually shut down your creative process and nothing will flow.  The times I can’t write is usually because I’ve taken on an assignment that I don’t like.  It feels like work and it’s no longer enjoyment.  In those times I remind myself why I write.  It’s not to please others, it’s to inform others, entertain them and because I enjoy it.  When those three reasons come together harmoniously, it’s a great feeling.

Maybe you have the same problem.  Maybe you’re suffering from writer’s block because you aren’t happy with the material you’re writing.  If that’s the case you need to remind yourself why you’re a writer and get back in touch with that side of yourself.

If you can’t decide why you have writer’s block, try writing about it.  Write a dialog with yourself, write out your feelings about it and see if what holds you back doesn’t reveal itself.

Write On!
Patti

In a recent post I mentioned writer’s block and writer’s overload.  “What Holds You Back From Writing.”

Today I want to cover ways to help you overcome writers block but I also want to raise the question of whether or not one can lead to the other (writers block and writers overload).

I referred to writer’s overload as having too many ideas to write about, which could translate to having so many ideas you can’t find time to write.  I also mentioned that “idea” overload can cause you to feel overwhelmed and not allow you to focus on one topic.  In a sense this can cause writer’s block.

So lets define writer’s block.  Writer’s block can be an inability to choose which points to cover for those writing non-fiction for the web or a magazine.  It can be an inability to move a scene or character forward in fiction writing, or it can mean lack of inspiration or creativity for poets and lyric writers.

Writing, in any form, is basically thinking.  So maybe it’s a “Thinking Problem”.  Thinking is basically analyzing.  To write about any subject, fiction or non-fiction, is to analyze it.  Lets think about how we can analyze our subject and break it down into smaller parts.

Some people call this clustering, some call it mind-mapping.

I’m going to use fiction in this example and mind-map a character.  We have a hero; our central character.  We need to give him a name, like John.  (I know, boring)

We have John and we need to define who he is.  Can you tell who he is just by his name?  Can you visualize John?  Probably not yet.

We need to get some basic information about John; his personality, his strengths, weaknesses and his background.

View Character Mind Map image in new window

If you look at the diagram (I’m not an artist) you can see I’ve placed John in the center rectangle and the things I want to define about him in circles, each with lines connecting them.

For John’s personality, I decided he would be charming, ruthless and rugged.  Now we can begin to visualize John.  Maybe he’s a business man who likes the outdoors?

I’ve defined his strength’s as athletic, intelligent, and cares for family.  His weaknesses also includes caring for his family.  I guess it’s a cliche’ in fiction that our hero’s strength and weakness is the same thing.

If we look into his background we see John was a spoiled, rich brat who got into trouble with the law.  Isn’t that how it goes with these spoiled, rich brats?  Of course John has grown into a charming, handsome businessman and when he meets the damsel in distress everything will change.  But that’s your story to write.  Mine is to help you get that pen to paper.

At this point, and with a larger sheet of paper we can analyze each of John’s traits even more.  We can decide what he did as a teenager to get in trouble, if his athletic ability included playing football, and so many other things we can analyze with just these few traits.

The point of mind mapping and analyzing is to start your brain thinking about where John is going.  We can define this by his background and seeing where he’s been and delving into his personality.

This process will work for non-fiction as well.  All you need is a basic idea and map it out from there.  It can be growing tomatoes or comparing computer software.

After you’ve gotten started on your mind map you may get stuck on what to tell your audience.  Simply tell them what you want to know.  Do you want to know the pro’s and con’s of computer software, price comparison, etc.?  Maybe you want to know what John is going to do next.  Maybe you’re worried about what you think the reader wants to hear instead of showing them what you want them to know.  Figure out what it is you want to know and give it to the reader.

A mind map is a better visual tool than using an outline.  Drawing squares, circles, stars, hearts (whatever shape you like) can also wake up the creative side of your brain and help get words onto paper, or computer screen.

For more help you can read my article at Blogging Tips,  Developing a Strategy for Writing: The Process

Check back soon for more tips on writer’s block, the writing process and other things I want to share with you.

Write On!
Patti

You’ve decided to write something. You sit down to write and what happens? Do you go blank? Do you get writers block? Or, maybe you’re like me and you have so many ideas you can’t choose one.

Just this morning I’ve penned 5 writing ideas and I have 2 from yesterday, plus a draft in the back-end here at my blog. Those are just on ‘writing’ topics and do not include other ideas I want to write on in fitness, health, etc.

One problem I find is wanting to write in my own voice. This is not the same as finding your voice in fiction writing. I mean I want to write straight out of my head–which is rarely ever grammatically correct.

I began this post March 26 and saved it to drafts, which gave me 2 posts in draft.  I now have about 15 topic ideas jotted down for writing.  Several years ago I was writing 10-12 hours a day.  I burned out and took a rather long hiatus.  I’m now having trouble getting back to a regular routine with writing.  I begin writing and soon get hit with more ideas and then find it hard to focus on the topic at hand.

It’s not really writers’ block that holds me back, it’s writers’ overload.  Some days it’s easy to just ‘pick a topic’ and go with it, other days it’s quite difficult.

What do you do in these situations?  Do you suffer writers’ block or writers’ overload?