Have you ever wondered why some people are so good at dancing?
Some think it’s because they went to school for it, or they’re just born great dancers.
None of that is true.
They just dance, a lot.
So when a new song comes on, and they have a blank slate of dancing, they’re not scared.
Now, I can’t dance. But at a young age, I learned how to conquer one thing. Writer’s block.
Here’s the good news. You can conquer it too.
Forget that feeling of staring at a blank word document, or an empty sheet of paper.
Soon, that’ll be a thing of the past.
Hang on though. There’s three things you’ll have to learn. And they’re all easy.
Any writing is better than no writing
There’s no scoreboard – no one is keeping track of your bad words when you’re on your first draft!
Believe me – sometimes, I write a sentence and I cringe.
I write something, and when I come back to it later, I can’t imagine what on earth I was thinking. What did I mean? Who writes like that?
Believe it or not, that’s the way it should be.
You can form bad writing into good writing. But you can’t form no writing into anything.
This brings me to my next lesson.
When you write, write without thinking
Your goal is to keep as little time as possible between thought and paper.
I want zero latency between my brain and what comes out onto the keyboard. And I do mean zero.
Think like a caveman.
Why?
Writing is an emotional experience.
I’m outpouring my emotion and transmitting it telepathically to you, the reader.
I want you to have those emotions. To feel what I feel.
Spend too much time on the perfect word, and you lose that emotion.
Besides, you can spend all the time in the world editing. That’s where you can form those thoughts and emotions, and remove the fluff.
So when you write, don’t think. Even writing the uhs and ums is good. Incomplete sentences? Why not. Typos? Sure thing.
The added bonus is it’s way easier.
Perfect grammar be damned – that’s for future you to figure out. And future you is much more capable – THEY’RE older and wiser. Aren’t you proud of them?
One more tip, then you’re ready.
Write what you know. This applies to everything.
I’ll admit it. It’s easier to conquer writer’s block if you’ve written a lot.
This is because you’re an experienced writer and you have some tools that can get you out of tricky situations.
So…to conquer writer’s block, write what you know.
If you know how to make pizza really well, write about making great pizza. If you’re super into the guitar, write about your favorite guitarists.
Odds are, people will want to read it.
Remember that emotion we talked about?
It’ll come through.
And you’ll have a much easier time writing it because, well, you know it. You have opinions on it.
You probably learned a thing or two that you wish you’d know when you were starting.
There you have it.
I do these three things (almost) every single time I write. Word vomit, and don’t think at all about what I’m writing. I misspelled four words in that last sentence. Did I correct them? Absolutely not.
If you’re focused on getting it right the first time, you’ll never do it. And that’s even worse than writing a bad article, or a bad book, or a bad anything.
So if you’re suffering from writer’s block, it’s quite easy.
Pick what you want to write about. Write your thoughts. Whatever comes into your mind.
Let it flow. And flow and flow and flow and flow.
Ignore that last sentence – it doesn’t matter anymore.
Get as much out as you can and you’ll find it much easier to keep moving forward.
This is the best way to learn how to write better, and overcome writer’s block.
I hope it helps.
While you’re here, I have one more tip.
Those tools that writers use that I mentioned?
I’ve got a list of them here. Try a few out next time you’re writing.
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