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I personally have always considered writers' block to be a symptom rather than a condition, in whichever writing discipline it may be seen to strike. The key to overcoming it is therefore to determine the root cause of the perceived block and either remove that cause or deal with it in a fashion which will facilitate our getting on with our writing. There are a number of ways which I have found of performing what is essentially this form of self-diagnosis and have almost always found one or other of the following scenarios to be applicable.

Academic writing is of course likely to be an extremely specialised field. The academic writer does not have in any sense the wide, journalistic licence enjoyed by writers in fields such as poetry or fiction. He or she has to make sure that they are dealing only in hard, established facts or are at least propounding theories which are credible and thought-provoking to their colleagues or pupils.

The first diagnosis I would perform in this respect when writers' block rears its ugly head is to ask ourselves whether we have perhaps chosen an inappropriate topic for our piece. Are we perhaps over-reaching the extent of our knowledge and experiences? Vanity is not something we can afford to let cloud our judgement in this respect as, should this be the case, we are going to significantly reduce our standing in our specialised field if we submit a sub-standard piece of work. It may be that we simply have to change our perspective slightly, or omit one of our theories - it does not necessarily follow that our entire script to date be invalidated.

Assuming the above is not the case, we have to determine whether external influences are affecting our abilities to write. Did we have an as yet unresolved argument with our spouse this morning over which anger is still simmering under the surface? Are we worried about something in either our personal or professional lives? Is there something going on around us which is distracting us and interrupting our thought processes? These questions and more should be asked to determine whether our mood or even the way in which we feel physically is proving detrimental to our ability to write. If we find this to be the case, determine how we can either resolve the distraction or at least put it aside until a more appropriate time.

The final most common cause of writers' block could simply be that we are working too hard and we are tired. We may need to take a break, either for a short time or until the next day. Take a walk or watch some TV, have a coffee and catch up on some personal e-mails. If it is late at night, we may simply be tired. Go to bed and start fresh in the morning. If this is the cause of our writers' block, perseverance is only going to make the problem worse.

Hopefully, by considering the above scenarios, we will find that one of them applies and that by taking the prescribed course of action, we can alleviate the problem and get on with producing work to the high standard we know we are capable of.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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