Writer’s block can be a real bear when you are…where was I? Oh, yeah…trying to get something done. Anyone who writes more than casually will run into. One approach I’ve used is to write just to write.
What is writer’s block? It is the simple inability to think through a critical step of what you are writing. You might have the pieces before it and after it, but there is just a big empty hole in the middle slowly sucking down you project like a black hole. The key for every writer is to figure out how to get past these humps in the writing continuum.
There are many infamous strategies for beating writer’s block. They run the gamut from meditating to drinking heavily to banging one’s head against the table. The last two are often combined with interesting, if painful, results. In fact, you can over do each one and get the effect of both!
I write a lot. Okay, excessively. Writer’s block is a definite problem from time to time. I’ve tried different strategies to deal with it. Most have worked a few times, but more often than not they simply are not adequate for dealing with the problem. The one approach that I have found that works is to write just to write.
What does this mean exactly? Well, I just start writing with no point A or point B in mind. The intended final act of the exercise is to throw away/delete the item you are writing. This means there need be no rhyme or reason to what you are putting down. Most of what I do doesn’t even make sense! It is just the ramblings of a brilliant/infantile mind…mine!
I find taking this approach often seems to jar loose the blockages that give rise to writer’s block. You can think of it is mental Drano. The more of it you do, the more ideas will just start popping into your brain. Before you know it, your lock, stock and on course with your theme again and a flood of ideas and story twists are presenting themselves for development.
Does writing just to write work for everyone? Probably not. That being said, you won’t know until you give it a try. Besides, your head will hurt a lot less the next morning compared to the other strategies you could employ.
