So you’re a writer. You dabble in stories and poems and are a self-proclaimed bibliophile. You’re the writer everyone in the class in envious of. You’re the person with the highest scores on all your essays. You’re the person with stories in the school/college magazine, and you proudly show off how many views your online published stories have.
If you identify with all of the above, then you’re surely identify with the empty feeling that sometimes comes with regular writing. Those days when your mind is blank, and you have no idea what to put down on paper. Or maybe you have a head full of ideas but with no idea how to translate them into ink (or Ms-Word, as the case may be). These are all the symptoms of being in a writer’s block and here’s how you can get over it:
Don’t be one of those hardcore writers who wake up at 6 to devote an hour to writing everyday! The strictness of your schedule can affect your productivity. Being a writer is all about loosening up and letting go, it’s about following your heart rather than your head. Which is why you should always indulge in free writing. The novel you’re working on? It can wait for a few minutes everyday. Scribbling and dabbling are great ways to encourage creativity.
A walk! You’ll be surprised to see what a plunge your mood can take when you’ve been siting on a chair staring at a wall for hours with no ideas. Do something to get your blood flowing and your heart pumping. Engage in an activity – a physical one, a one that does not require you to stress your brain but rather gives it some rest.
Listen to music. Music and creativity go hand in hand for they’re controlled by the same side of your brain. No, we don’t mean you listen to death metal or generic pop, rather try to stick to classical or instrumental as these will give you a much-needed relaxation. There are instrumentals that are specifically made for this purpose and will activate the areas of the brain associated with relaxation hormones. So get listening!
Read a book. Remember, the work you’ve written may seem drab and monotonous to you because you’ve read and edited it thousands of times. You’ve gone over it again and again and you know every twist. So, break off and indulge in the work of some other author and appreciate his/her style.
Another reason for a writer’s block is when you lose your muse – when you’ve simply lost the zest and zeal you began with and now simply can’t finish your work. In that case, it’s best to give it a rest. It may take days, weeks or months but one day, you’ll surely get back to it.
About the author
Just your everyday perpetually cash-strapped teenager.
