How to deal with writer's block

**Writer’s block is when you have problems getting started writing a specific report or document, or getting part way and stopping because you can’t go any further. Essentially, it is when the ideas are not coming to you as quickly as when you first started writing.***

But first always start out with an organized and sequential outline of what you want to write as your game plan.

Tips for dealing with writer’s block
1. Write a paragraph about why you can’t write.

2. Get some air and clear your head… Take a walk . Get out of your chair and get a drink of water, herbal tea, green tea, or white tea, a drink without caffeine that is.


3. Stop thinking, just write from the heart (of course depending on what you are working on… for some situations, this would not apply.)

4. Go to a different part of your work (look at your outline) and write from there. You don’t always have to write in a linear fashion.

5. When starting to write (first draft), forget about writing well. Write your thoughts as they come to you- don’t worry about the grammar and the sequence of it at this stage.). But do come back to it later and improve it…

6. Go back and revise what you have already written- this will get you back into the flow.

7. Set a time limit - a goal- in which you write just one page and force yourself to achieve that goal.

8. Make a list of ways (check your editing list I sent you earlier in the year re: your writing challenges) in which your work can be improved, then deal with one subject (aspect of that list) one at a time.

9. Talking it out with someone- sometimes speaking with a trusted friend or colleague- can break the writer’s block or at least soften it. 


*****Adapted from the book- “How to be a Writer : Secrets from the Inside” by Stewart Ferris. 2005.

Another book of note for generating ideas and creativity is : “How to Get Ideas” by Jack Foster. 2007.