Overcoming Writers Block

Ah, I remember writers block. I used to suffer from it a long
time ago. Today I write dozens of articles a week, perhaps five
hundred a year. Earlier in my life, I would go months and months
without writing a word. Why? Writers block. But I suffer no
longer.

The Causes

What causes writers block? In my case, I've found a few causes.

The idiots of the world - Occasionally I'll write something and
get a negative comment. In the past when I was in my twenties
(seems like a different lifetime now) this would stop me cold.
I'd get a comment like "this isn't that great" or "you should
change your article thusly..." and bam, I would stop writing for
weeks or months.

Some other failure in life - I've found that when I was failing
somewhere else in life I would stop writing. You know, hard
times at work, lost love, that kind of thing. When life seemed
to hit me particularly hard, I would find that I didn't feel
like writing at all.

Something I didn't understand - Sometimes I would want to write
an article but I would find myself stopped cold. Later, I would
often discover that I didn't understand something, some critical
piece of information. Once I filled in that gap, I started
writing again.

Illness - Something about throwing up just makes it difficult
to write ...

Too much introversion - I've found that I have to extrovert
occasionally in order to be able to introvert enough to write.
Does that make sense? On those occasions where I could not get
out, my writing suffered.

Not writing something of interest - Occasionally, I've found I
am attempting to write an article about a subject which is of
no interest at all. It makes it really difficult to write
something when you don't care a hoot for it.

The Solutions

What are the solutions?

Write something every single day - I have taken a few writing
classes, and one common denominator (and perhaps the only
meaningful information from any of them) was so simple as to
defy imagination. Simply write something every single day.

I write one article, completely polished and ready for
publication, every single day, seven days a week, 365 days a
year. Sometimes I write two or three articles in a day.

It really doesn't matter what I write, although I usually
write about the internet or computers. But occasionally I
write other things, including pages for my autobiography or even
a love letter to the wife.

Put aside time to write - I have set aside "writing time", two
hours every single night, in which I isolate myself in my office
at home and write my heart out. My wife respects my introversion
during this time as it allows me to do one of the things that I
love the most: communicate ideas in written form.

Fill in any missing blanks - If I find that I am having trouble
explaining something in writing or the words just don't flow, I
look around and see if there is something about it that I do not
fully understand. That often works.

Ignore the idiots of the world - There sure seem to be a lot of
jerks sometimes. However, I don't need to allow some babbling
idiots ruin my writing. Just because someone does not like
something does not mean anything except they didn't like it...

I do not ask for criticism - I never ask anyone to criticize my
works, ever. I do not ask for site reviews of my websites, I
don't submit my works for review. Why not? I am not interested
in other people's silly opinions about my works. I know I am a
good writer, a excellent webmaster and a great manager. I don't
need anyone to tell me how good I am, and I certainly don't need
anyone to point out my faults.

Changing styles - If I have trouble starting a piece and I'm
sure I understand what I'm writing about, I often change the
style. I usually write in a very conversational tone, which
seems to communicate well to people. However, I will
occasionally change to humorous or very serious or whatever.
I've found these changes tend to blow away writers block like
dynamite.

Conclusions

No matter what the cause, writer's block is something that can
be handled and overcome. It's actually not complicated at all.
In fact, the best way to deal with the syndrome is the simplest -
just start writing and keep writing, no matter what happens.
Write your heart out and before long you will be writing like
crazy.

About the Author

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to
read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.