Cure Writer's Block With a Few Sneaky Tricks

Writer's block is such a common obstacle faced by people tasked with seemingly insurmountable writing projects that you would think it was a problem that writers frequently faced. Professional writers don't get writer's block, at least none that I ever met. There are some secrets that insulate the professional writer from this condition that plagues non-writers.

Writer's block is sometimes described as that agonizing sensation a person faces when staring at a blank sheet or paper or a blank white field on a computer monitor. The anguish progresses as one contemplates that one is supposed to fill that surface full of words, apt and important words.

The blocked writer then feels not only overwhelmed, but incompetent. He does not know where to begin, so he begins nowhere. Slowly, time marches on and the pain just gets worse and worse. Then why on earth are professional writers so unlikely to get writer's lbock?

Professional writers don't get writer's block because they can't afford to. Most freelance writers have earnings directly tied to their output, so getting writer's block would be like a factory worker getting factory block. Imagine being so overwhelmed you couldn't show up for work. You wouldn't last.

But why do writers overcome writer's block so confidently while it knocks others out? There are some tricks.

The main reason most people develop writer's block is from a misconception about the very nature of writing. They assume that perfect prose and well organized thoughts just naturally flow from the writers fingers to the page. They have the curious delusion that writers write something once and it's perfectly complete.

Here's the secret: real writing is rewriting.

The first draft that you get down on paper is rarely what you publish or keep. Instead, you write something and then polish it, restructure it, change it around, substitute a word here or there, redo it, polish it again, and keep going.

Granted, high-output writers have learned a lot of secrets to rewriting to streamline the steps, but for a non-writer, it is important to recognize that your first draft will be completely unpublishable, possibly even incoherent, and filled with mistakes.

Accept that.

Don't try to write a first draft and pass it off as your launch plan or new product brochure or research paper. A first draft is really just a way to get the pieces out on the table.

You may still feel blocked. The reason you are struggling is that you sit down, ready to work, only to realize the disconcerting truth that you have no idea what your first step should be.

Here's the secret of where to begin: tell yourself what you want to say.

Don't try to tell your reader, don't try to make it sound good, don't even worry that anyone will ever see it. Just jot down some notes on what you are actually trying to accomplish. You might write something like, "I want to launch this project in an unusual way because this product is not typical for our company. It's a groundbreaking new technology. I would like to develop a series of websites on this product instead of doing the usual marketing collateral."

That's not a launch plan, but that's a great start. What you've done here is you've set out on a direction. The amazing part is that it's closer to final than you may realize. When you express what you want to say, even in ordinary language, you have set forth the very foundation of your document.

The next step involves polishing that a bit. Try this: "This product is an unusual one, so the usual launch plans are not sufficient." You remove the "I want" and "I think" and just make it more neutral.

As you start to polish, you may find writer's block closing in on you again. You'll worry that as you write you'll misspell words or use improper punctuation or you might not have right subject-verb agreement or use a dangling participle, whatever on earth that is.

That is because most of us have an inner English teacher with a screechy voice telling us we're wrong. English teachers have done more to set back real writing than any other group because they have instilled in us a sense of inadequacy about keeping the rules.

I'm not saying you should write badly. But when you are doing your first draft and just sort of working out the kinks, don't let poor spelling, wrong word use, bad punctuation, or anything else inhibit you. In fact, gag the inner English teacher. Don't hurt her, though. You'll need her later.

Keep writing. When you feel yourself getting stuck, just ask yourself. What am I trying to say? Then say it as normally as if you were talking to a friend. "What I want to say here is that this strategy might be a little risky." That's what you want to say. And this is what that might look like when it's rephrased. "This strategy might be a little risky." Polish it up a bit (if you're inclined) and you've got this: "Granted, this strategy is not without some risk."

Only at the end when you have gotten all of your thoughts on paper, however imperfectly, should you take the gag out of your inner English teacher. You may have to re-organize the contents, that is, move stuff around. You'll probably have to rephrase many sentences.

Then you should look at things like spelling, punctuation, maybe even proper word use. This is the part where you might want to use a dictionary or a thesaurus. (Don't drag out these reference books when you're in the draft phase because they are rarely necessasry until you're well into rewriting.)

You can also check grammar. This isn't the place for a full blown grammar lesson but the biggest mistakes that are made generally involve improper use of words (saying anxious when you mean eager), improper subject verb agreement (everybody is singular and generally masculine, as in everybody knows his rights), and proper use of punctuation (here's a tip: in American English the period always goes inside the double quotation marks).

You put a period outside the parentheses when the parentheses a part of a sentence (like this). (But you put the period inside the parentheses when the whole sentence is in parentheses.)

Even if you were a dud in English class, don't worry. You can hire an editor to polish up your work or get a colleague or friend to review it. Just don't get your feelings hurt when changes are suggested. Most writers learn to endure seemingly relentless criticism.

Take one last polish of your material. Whenever you think you're done, do it at least one more time. Good writing is rewriting.

Just keep going. To avoid writer's block, sit down and write out (in normal words, just like you were speaking) what you want to say. Then keep polishing and organizing until you have something pretty decent. After that, get an editor or use your best knowledge of English spelling, grammar, and punctuation to put the finishing touches on.

That's the best cure for writer's block that I know of. A deadline also helps.