Most people think that a writing career is glorious. Most writers have the luxury of setting their own work schedules and are their own boss. Who wouldn’t want to have this kind of job? Writing is a rewarding career to have, but it is not as easy and stress free as most people think it is. Writers go through the same daily stresses as anyone else does. Starting out as a writer is probably more stressful than starting a job at a major banking firm.
One of the main stresses that writers face from time to time is that dreaded writers block. Getting stuck for ideas in a story or losing your train of thought in the middle of an article is a royal pain in the ass.
The hardest part, sometimes, is starting an article, short story or novel. Here you are sitting in front of a blank computer screen. You may have a five word title for your article typed across the top of your page, or you may not. Nevertheless, you have a great idea for an article, but where do you begin? This is where ideas flood your brain. All these ideas are great, but for some reason, you cannot transfer them from your brain to the computer. You want your article to be superb, one that editors and readers will not resist. So, you write and re-write your opening sentence over and over again, trying to make your sentence catchy and grammatically perfect. When you fail to come up with a blockbuster sentence, you start to get frustrated.
Here are a few things you can do to overcome writers block.
When you start to get frustrated, leave your computer for an hour, have a snack, a coffee, or go for a walk. Do any activity that will momentarily take your mind off your work. By engaging in a fun or relaxing activity, you allow your brain time to relax. That way, when you do go back to the computer, you feel much more refreshed and ready to tackle the project.
Perhaps, you are having one of those days where you turn on your computer, and the blank computer screen hinders your thinking ability. Do not despair; this happens to the best of us. Do some background reading on the topic you are going to write about. Give your self at least a half-an hour reading time. If you are not too familiar with the subject you are going to write about, you will need to know about it before you can write about it. Ideas will flow much smoother when you are knowledgeable about the subject matter.
Next, grab a blank piece of paper or two and list the main points you plan to talk about in your article in order of how the body of the article will flow. It might even be helpful to write your introduction. Sometimes, ideas flow much smoother when you are not staring at a bright computer screen.
Eat regularly and eat foods that are rich in protein, carbohydrates and protein. You should also supplement your diet with vitamin supplements. You should have at least three meals a day. If you are unable to do this, have your main meal in the middle of the day and supplement it with snacks throughout the rest of the day. Remember, that the brain needs food for thought and for energy. A healthy diet will help the brain work faster and for a longer period of time. You can alleviate writers block just by maintaining a healthy diet.
Thinking too much about what to write and worrying to much about writing an epic article or story actually causes writers block. Worrying about the outcome of your article causes stress. When your brain undergoes stress, its thinking process shuts down. Do not do this to yourself. Stress will not help you to write an impressive article. Besides, it is completely unnecessary. Just relax, write the article and go back and edit it later. After all, you will likely have to go over it and make corrections more than twice before your article is good enough to send to editors. Your brain is most relaxed when you are not thinking too much. Ideas will flow and the next thing you know, you will have that blockbuster article you set out to write.
If you follow these simple steps, then you will be able to overcome writers block and the pain it causes.
