Four Steps to Overcoming Writer’s Block
Have you ever stared blankly at a computer screen or notepad, unsure of where to start? Writer’s block. Most writers have felt it—when you feel your creativity has dried up, and you have no idea what to put down on paper.
When people hear I’m a professional writer, they often bring up the topic of writer’s block, hoping I’ll empathize about how hard writer’s block is to deal with. But honestly, I don’t struggle with writer’s block anymore. Here’s why.
The Truth Behind Writer’s Block
If you’re a professional writer, writer’s block isn’t an option. Clients need quality material, and they need it by a deadline. Imagine if bakers struggled with “baker’s block” or accountants struggled with “accountant’s block.” In any profession, you have to learn to perform your job consistently. Writers carry the same pressure.
So what is writer’s block? Writer’s block is a misnomer for the true underlying ailment: perfectionism. Writer’s block comes when your expectations are too high, leaving you frozen. You want to produce a great piece of literature, but you have no idea how to get there. You feel intimidated by starting.
Here’s the key: each step of the writing process has certain expectations that go with it. Writer’s block comes when you try to arrive at the finished product without following the process to get there.
How to Overcome Writer’s Block
You would never walk into a kitchen, observe a baker mixing batter, and say “This doesn’t look like a cake!” Why? Because you know they’re following a recipe, a specific process that yields predictable results, every time.
It's the same with writing. If you expect perfect writing right away, you’ll feel intimidated and stuck. But if you follow a recipe, you’ll be able to repeat the same process and get quality results every time.
I’m going to give you four steps that will change your life. I promise that if you follow these steps, you will never again struggle with writer’s block. Whether you’re writing an essay or a novel, the steps are the same:
Step One: Brainstorm. Forget sitting in front of a blank computer screen. Get out a little notepad or sticky note. Just start writing down words and phrases of the big ideas you want to communicate. If you’re unsure of your main points, write down all the possibilities and let them live on the page together. Give yourself freedom to try and get it wrong. Write down everything, no holds barred.
Step Two: Synthesize. Go back through your ideas. Find the most meaningful ones and start stringing them together into an outline. Scribble arrows, phrases, anything! At this stage, you’re not worrying about quality; just content. Look at all your ideas and take time deciding what to say.
Step Three: Draft. Take your scribbled ideas and use them to write out a rough draft of your work. But here’s the key to writing a rough draft—expect to rewrite it! Don’t worry about how your writing sounds; just put content down on paper. Refuse to get bogged down by high expectations at this stage. Just say what you want to say, without worrying about how you say it.
Step Four: Rewrite. Take your rough draft and rework it over and over until you love what you’ve written. At this stage, start thinking about how you communicate your ideas. Concentrate on verbs, imagery, sentence flow, etc. This step takes patience and perseverance because you’ll probably have to repeat it multiple times! But the work will be worth it.
In Summary
The key to overcoming writer’s block is to get rid of perfectionism. Give yourself freedom to make mistakes as you form your ideas, and expect to rewrite your work multiple times.
The creative process is about the journey to get there more than the finished product. Or, in the words of Miley Cyrus, “Ain’t about how fast I get there . . . It’s all about the climb.”