Writer's Block: 6 Ways to Defeat Writer's Block

There is nothing worse than having a deadline looming and you cannot settle down and get things done. For a writer, a writer's block can grow into a wall that will stop your creativity for long periods of time. Even students and people from other walks of life can come up against the dreaded writer's block. When you find yourself up against the wall, try one of these quick cures to knock that writer's block right out of the way of your creativity.

Get Away from the Keyboard to Defeat Writer's Block:

One of the quickest ways to get over writer's block is to just leave you desk. Go do the dishes or go for a quick run. While you are doing something else, let your mind wander over what you must write and soon you will come up with a thought or angle that has you rushing back to your computer.

Go Curl up in Bed to Defeat Writer's Block:

Many may doubt this as a way to combat writer's block, but it works well. Take a tape recorder and curl up in a warm bed. Just lay there a while. Turn on the tape recorder and start talking. Begin by talking about anything and soon you will find that your thoughts turn to what you must write about and the writer's block is crumbling around you. The best thing is, with the recorder, you do not have to worry about rushing back to your desk to write down your idea. It is safely stored on the tape recorder.

Set a Timer to Defeat Writer's Block:

Set a timer for 17 minutes. Open up a blank page and just start typing. No editing allowed for the entire 17 minutes. Type your thoughts about anything that comes to mind. If you do not have a clock on your desk, perhaps there is one on your microwave. Just turn on some sort of clock that will ding at you when the time is up. During those 17 minutes, you may actually come up with what you were looking for and your writer's block is gone. If not, there may be small gems of insight that you can use in a different project.

When the timer goes off, I can either finish my thoughts, or reset the timer and do something different, such as editing, for 4 minutes. This is my reward for sticking to the writing process and actually getting something down on paper.

Play Beat the Clock to Defeat Writer's Block:

Break you project into several smaller tasks. If you are writing a 400 word article, then divide it into four 100 word goals. Set your timer to 12 minutes and try to write the opening paragraph or the final paragraph in those 12 minutes. If you complete the task, use the free time to play a quick game or to consider your next step. If you do not beat the timer, reset it and go on to the next task immediately.

Read Through Some of your Previous Work to Defeat Writer's Block:

In cleaning out my files, I came across a great collection of things my kids had said when growing up. It took just a few minutes to edit them and to create an article that I could publish that is hilarious.

Use a prompt to Defeat Writer's Block:

There are several websites that have prompts for writers. These prompts are usually the opening sentence of a story, or just some random words that you can use to get your creative juices going and defeat your writer's block.

It has been my experience that none of these will work all the time for defeating writer's block. By mixing them up and using different ones at different times, I have managed to be more productive as a writer and I feel I am well armed to defeat writer's block anytime it enters my head.