How to Cure Writer's Block

I wanted to share the best advice I have encountered for curing a writing block. 

It is simple. Give yourself the permission to write garbage. If that stresses you out, set aside a short period like 3 minutes for this exercise. 

Set your mind at ease knowing that you will have a chance to edit the garbage LATER. Besides, no one else will see it. At its root, a writing block is caused by a 'multiple personality disorder' of sorts. Specifically, your inner critic, playing the role of a hard-nosed antagonist, demands perfection. It wants to have the best possible outline, ensure that every point is made, every message received, every emotional trigger engaged and so on. However, the writer, playing the role of the protagonist with whom your anguish most relates, has a deep fear of falling short. The writer does not want his work to be misunderstood, misconstrued or misinterpreted.

In addition to giving the scared you permission to write garbage, make a promise to the inner critic that you will give it the chance to offer criticism, but LATER. As a consequence, your inner critic can relax because your promise assures it that you are not being wreckless, you are trustworthy. In short, once your inner critic is calm, it steps aside and you can release your creativity. 

While you write, you might need to remind the inner critic to be quiet over how your 'garbage' is coming along because his or her turn will soon come.

Beware however, you must keep this promise. If you do not, ie if you allow garbage to be released into the world which is your inner  critic's worst fear, your inner critic will distrust you in the future and create subsequent blocks.

In short, to proceed successfully, you should integrate the writer and the inner critic as partners within a whole. They both really want the best for you and just need to be allowed to play their roles in turn.

If your success is short lived, schedule a routine with very small, achievable goals. For instance, you may write every other day at 5am time to tackle 3 ideas in the [easiest outstanding section].

 

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