What to do when perfectionism is the root cause of your writer's block
If you’re experiencing writer’s block, here are some tips to help you move past it.
Moving Past the Not So Pleasant Part of Your Writing Process
If you consider yourself a writer, you’ve likely experienced that feeling of dread or anxiety that keeps you from starting (or even finishing) that piece of writing you’ve been meaning to work on.
Maybe it’s a blog post.
Or perhaps it’s a chapter in the first draft of a book manuscript you’re working on.
Maybe it’s the website copy for the website redesign you’ve planned for your freelance portfolio.
Whatever piece of writing it may be, you probably know the feeling I’ve described. First, let that feeling of anxiety, and possibly even shame, go. It doesn’t serve you in your creative process, and it can even contribute to the writer’s block you’re experiencing.
Rest assured, there is nothing wrong with you as a writer. And the fact that you’re reading this shows you are already taking actions to help you move past this habit that isn’t serving you!
Take a few breaths if you need to. Do some yoga or go for a short walk to ground yourself before we get into the good part.
Now that you’ve let that guilt and anxiety go, here are some things you can do to help you move past your writer’s block.
3 Ways to Get Your Words Flowing
These practices have already been tested by yours truly. In fact, these are some of my favorite:
Do an activity that gets your mind reflecting on a topic, or analyzing something in your environment. Watch a tv show or a short documentary. Watch a Ted Talk if you’re short on time. Or you can read a chapter in a book that teaches you something new, and reflect on what you just read.
Find a meditative activity and allow your mind to wander. Write about whatever comes up for you. Some of my favorite meditative activities to get me into a relaxed state of mind for writing include, going for a walk, listening to music and thinking about the lyrics, or just sitting in nature and observing the thoughts that arise.
Writing in my journal is another way I like to get my creative energy flowing. You can even cook a favorite dish of yours, if that helps you feel relaxed.One of my most impactful tactics for getting past writer’s block is to just forget about writing something good, and simply start writing.
In middle school, I had a homeroom teacher, Ms. Wex, who would have us practice writing with short, free-write exercises about the most random topics. Ms. Wex would create some sort of story prompt that involved visualizing a set of circumstances, then she’d instruct us students to write about what happens next. We’d only have 3-5 minutes to respond to each writing prompt.
Back then, I despised this writing exercise because it was so hard to craft the perfect story in such a short amount of time. As soon as you’d start to really get some momentum with your writing, the timer would go off.
What I now realize, is Ms. Wex was helping us get in the practice of learning to just start writing, even if we didn’t have our ideas fully formed. This writing practice still serves me today, when I need to get out of my head and get some words on paper.
That’s all there is to it.
Get your mind going.
Find a meditative activity.
Or simply just start writing to create some momentum!
If you try these exercises, I’m certain you’ll find it easier to move past your writer’s block each time it starts to appear.
I even wrote the first draft of this essay in less than 10 minutes, after I thought I didn’t know what to write about. I thought about how I was experiencing writer’s block, then I decided to do a short, low-stakes free writing exercise on what it means to experience writer’s block.
The contents of this essay are based on the reflections that came up for me during that short free-write.
Is this just the type of content you’ve been looking for to help you grow as a writer?
If so, subscribe to my newsletter for more content about:
improving your writing
crafting your content strategy
understanding digital marketing
riding the waves of the creator economy