by Milton Johanides

Created on: August 09, 2010

It can seem painfully real when you are sitting in front of a blank screen wondering what to write and nothing comes into your head. This is commonly known as writer´s block, but the idea of "a block" is just an illusion. Nothing is "blocking" those ideas from coming into your head, but "block" is a graphic and convenient way to describe what is actually happening. Writers stop writing for a number of different reasons. Very often the cause is trying to write something that is of no interest whatsoever to the writer. If you have had a commission for an article which does not stimulate you in any way, you may find it very difficult to drum up enough enthusiasm about it. Ideas don´t come because you are not sufficiently excited by your subject. The opposite is just as true. When you write too much about a subject you find endlessly fascinating, sooner or later you arrive at the boredom threshold beyond which you cannot go. If you have written down every good idea you have about a subject, perhaps re-written in a hundred different ways, it´s not surprising if you suddenly find yourself with little else to say.

Both the above scenarios have solutions. Subjects that do not interest you can be made interesting if they are given an individual slant in a direction which does interest you. So writing about a new car may be the last thing you want to write about and encounter the mythical "writer´s block" whenever you sit down to write, but suddenly the world opens up to you when you think about "a drive through the country with my girlfriend in my new car." New ideas suddenly flood your imagination. If you have exhausted your favourite subject by quite simply writing too much about it, adding a new twist will give you a jump start. For example, if you normally write about health foods and how they affect your life, mentally alter the balance of the article so that it comes from a completely different angle such as "how eating unhealthily nearly killed me."  The new angle will stimulate new ideas.

Other things that may be stopping you from writing are stress or fatigue. You may not be blocked, just too busy thinking about something else that is bothering you or too tired from writing too much or doing other things. In this case, rest is the best medicine. Get away from the laptop and do something completely unrelated to writing. Sometimes playing a relaxing piece of music or reading a good book is enough to get the fingers itching to type again. In more extreme cases, perhaps a fortnight´s holiday is called for. If you can´t afford a holiday, just stop writing for that time and try and do other things to stimulate ideas. This could be anything from visiting an art gallery to making new friends. The limit is your own imagination, and it´s all about keeping your imagination alive.

Once you realise that writer´s block is only an illusion and see that there are sensible solutions to the drying up of your writing incentive, you will soon forget that such a thing ever blighted your life.  

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