What Is The Best Way To Really Beat Writer's Block? Find Out
“While writing I was not allowed to judge.”
We've all felt stuck.
You know what it feels like to spend hours staring at a blank page. Watching the cursor torment us with its unending repetitive blink. But it doesn't have to be this way. Many writers like you are asking us, what's the best advice for beating writer's block?
We know we want to write our story, but why is it so hard to fill the page?
I'll tell you a secret; I don't believe in writer's block. It doesn't exist, and by the end of this post, I'm sure going to try and have you convinced it doesn't exist either. And ... how to beat it for good. Let me explain.
Sometimes when start to write, we can get confused between perfection and writer's block. Perfection doesn't exist. It will prevent you from writing. It will stop you from being creative for your whole life - if you let it.
Writer's block and judgement
We all have lots of ideas. Yet writer's block often comes from a place of judgement. We are judging ourselves, our ideas, and our stories before we've ever given them a chance to breathe.
Trust in your first ideas. Trust you can write whatever comes into your head. Don't judge yourself. Let the words come out, and onto the page, we can always edit them later.
It's more important to:
Have fun
Get your ideas down onto paper
Explore your creativity
You've heard of that famous phrase you can't edit a blank page, well it's a well-known phrase because it's true. You can examine anything you write down. You can explore it, and make it better, or at worse – binned. But if the story, idea or poem stays in your head, it will disappear. Other thoughts will push it out and the memory or moment will be gone.
Writer's block is a lie
Another excuse made up to stop you from telling your story.
You're judging your ideas before you've even let them reach the page. You're trying to be a perfectionist. It's easy to do. But this is the trick to telling your stories. It's about letting yourself try things without beating yourself up. Without judging yourself before you've even started.
The best way I know to beat writer's block is through free writing. It sounds fancy but it's not. It is the most fantastic creativity builder I know.
It's like magic.
Writer's block and freewriting
Freewriting is the act of emptying your mind. Throwing everything onto the page with no rules and no judgement. It's setting a time limit and writing without stopping. It's as easy and as hard as that.
The idea with free writing is you try and overwrite your brain and its judgement. You write quickly and don't stop. You have to let the words empty faster than your mind can say, 'Oh this is rubbish'.
Freewriting is the only way I was able to write my novel. It helps me and will help you stop judging yourself. Because if you are not careful, you will judge yourself so much you won't be able to write. If we can start to conquer this judgement now, we're winning.
Freewriting is writing without censoring or blocking thoughts. Our minds are extraordinary, and they work so quickly. We have to try everything we can to outsmart them. Freewriting is one way we can try and beat our inner brain editor. We are trying to write things down before our brain can trick us into thinking it's a silly idea.
Dorothea Brande wrote about freewriting in 1932 in her book, 'Becoming a Writer.' These ideas were then expanded by Peter Elbow in his book, 'Writing Without Teachers.' It is now a commonly used creative writing tool; it's not going away. It works.
Freewriting is how you will get your stories on paper
Just write. Don't edit.
You don't need to do it every day. But you do need to know it doesn't matter thinking what you write is nonsense. It matters that you are starting to save your memories and tell your stories. It's the beginning that matters. That is why our podcast is called Begin.
Writer's block and a lack of time
We waste so much time thinking we've got writer's block. Let me tell you - you don't have time for writer's block.
Have you heard of Parkinson's Law?
Parkinson's Law is:
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".
In other words, work grows and melts into all the available time you give it. Cyril Parkinson first talked about this in an essay he wrote for The Economist in 1955. Little did Cyril know his Law has a lot to do with writing.
Parkinson's Law and writing
If you have five minutes to write a story or a poem, it will take five minutes. If you have five hours, the same story will take five hours to write. It's the way our brains work, measuring the work we need to do against the time we've set aside for the tasks. Our mind works the same. It's painful but true.
You know when you plan to have a quick clean of the house, then get the same amount of cleaning done as when you spend all Saturday cleaning? What about when you are packing to go away? You promise yourself, you'll start packing early. But you still find yourself sitting on top of your bag trying to close it at 10 pm the night before your flight.
The time you leave is the time you fill.
The good news is we can use this to our advantage.
When you know extra space and time leaves room for writer's block, creeping perfection and procrastination,you can force yourself to write quicker. In smaller snippets of time. It's a win-win. You don't have writer's block. You have a world of stories to share. Just start with five minutes.
Why not set aside five minutes a day that you will spend working on your writing? Set up a space, prepare all your materials and set a timer. You won't begin to believe how many ideas you can generate in five minutes.
Beating writer's block is a process
The best way to really beat writer's block is a mindset shift. It takes work. It's deciding to make an effort to create even when it feels like work, even when the words don't flow.
We can help you with your writer's mindset. We can help encourage you. And it's coming soon. It's what could make the difference of writing or not writing that novel or memoir. If you feel you still need some help check out the workshop taking place soon.
How do you beat writer’s block for good?
As much as we love writing, we also know how difficult it can be. Sometimes the ideas won’t come. Maybe you don’t know where to start, or maybe you just don’t have the motivation to write. These things can be common frustrations and part of the writing life, but they don’t have to be.
Our Beating Writer’s Block Workbook will help you:
✅ Identify what writer’s block is and the forms it can take.
✅ Explore what writer’s block could look like for you.
✅ Help you combat writer’s block by offering you some techniques and strategies to overcome it.
✅ Be prepared when writer’s block strikes.
✅ Learn how to avoid panic or worry when you feel stuck.
✅ Become more confident in your writing process.
Plus, it’s packed with writing prompts!
