Most of us have experienced dreadful writer’s block at one point or another, especially when we have a paper due soon and we cannot seem to find any good ideas right away. The best portrayal of writer’s block is probably shown in the SpongeBob episode (yes, I’m a grown woman making a reference to SpongeBob) where he spends an entire night attempting to finish his essay and by the time the sun rises, the only thing he wrote down was, “The.” If you have no idea of what episode I am even talking about, then just take a look at the evidence below. It’s a beautifully written word isn’t it?
Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to get over writer’s block. These healthy approaches to writing will help you overcome writer’s block so you can be more productive and get your paper done on time.
Take a Walk
If you can’t seem to write anything simply because you feel stuck and overwhelmed, go take a short walk. You may even feel you have too many thoughts running through your head or not enough connecting thoughts. Going for a short walk can help clear your mind. Make sure to take a couple of deep breaths along the way and take a look at the little things around you. This will allow you to take a few moments to realize this block is temporary.
Pick a Focus Spot
Whether it’s a spot at home, at your dorm, or somewhere else on or around campus, try to find a spot where you can focus and eliminate distractions. You might be tempted to ask a friend to tag along, but try not to because they might end up being distracting and ruin your writing flow.
Take a Break
Maybe you’re experiencing writer’s block after you’ve already started your assignment and can’t seem to continue. If you’ve been working hard on it and put in so much effort where you feel as if you can’t write anymore, realize it’s okay to take a break. This is slightly different from the idea of taking a walk since you’d be taking a day or two break away from the writing. You can recollect your thoughts and ideas for the next time you decide to continue working on the paper. Also, when you revisit your writing, you’ll be able to catch mistakes that you didn’t notice the first time around.
Do Not Overthink!
Sometimes I experience a little bit of writer’s block when I’m overthinking almost every sentence or word I put down. I’ll wonder if a word I wrote is the right one or if sentence is getting the message across. Sometimes I end up writing fragmented sentences that are barely coherent. If you experience something similar, it’s a good idea to just keep writing whatever good ideas are popping into your head. In other words, you should just free write. The benefit of free writing is you’re writing in a way where even you aren’t judging your own work just yet. A lack of self-criticism allows a lot of the ideas to be written down in a productive way, so don’t worry and just WRITE! You can always go back later to check for spelling and grammar errors.
Do Something Else
A lot of times you may feel you’re not being as creative when writer’s block hits. If this happens, try to do another activity you know sparks your creative side. Some ideas are scrapbooking, painting, drawing, taking pictures, baking, dancing etc. The list goes on and on but it all depends on what activity you believe brings out your best creativity.
Writer’s block happens to a lot of us, so don’t feel discouraged if it happens to you. Everyone’s writing and style is different. I hope those of you who may be struggling with writer’s block will be able to take something away from this article to overcome it.
Keep writing, collegiettes.