Conquering Writer's Block

Today's topic: Conquering Writer's Block*

Writer's block plagues just about everyone at one point or another, and it can be agonizing.  It can paralyze a project, destroy your self-confidence, and generally make life miserable.  The good news is that there are ways to overcome writer's block and get your keyboard clickety-clacking once again.  Try each of these methods and see what works best for you.

Method One: Freewriting

Freewriting is a great technique.  Even if you don't have writer's block, freewriting can help you decide on a topic, narrow a broad area of interest to a manageable subject, and help you turn a vague ember of an idea into a roaring flame.  

For blocked writers, freewriting can be a low-pressure way of breaking through the barrier.  Here's how it works.

Sit down with a blank piece of paper or a blank computer screen, whichever you prefer.  Assign yourself a block of time--I find that 15 minutes works well for me, but you could go longer or shorter if you like.  You're going to force yourself to write, without stopping, for that entire length of time. 

If you're trying to choose a paper topic, you can start by writing "I can't decide what I want to write about..." and go from there.  If you're trying to choose among several options, write about the pros and cons of each, or about what interests or confuses you about each.  If you have NO IDEA what you want to write about, you might write about why you think that might be, and then progress to a discussion of topics that interest or frustrate you.  Or you might start by asking yourself a question, such as "What are the hot topics in my field right now?" or "What are the biggest patient care headaches in my field?" Ultimately though, in a freewrite the idea is to go where your mind takes you.  If you get stuck, don't let yourself stop writing.  Even if you have to keep writing "I'm stuck.  I'm stuck!  I'M STUCK!!!!" just KEEP GOING, and do NOT edit yourself as you go.  Nobody ever has to see what you write, so you don't need to hold yourself to a high standard--in fact, it's 100% fine if the majority of what you churn out is awful.  

The point with freewriting is to get your mind and your fingers working, and to give yourself permission to turn off your inner critic and just spill out whatever is on your mind.  I think you'll find that eventually your brain will take you somewhere unexpected and interesting.  When your time is up, you can either stop or keep going, whichever you prefer.  When you finish, you might try going through what you've written and underlining or highlighting anything that stands out to you.  These might be diamonds in the rough, ideas to use as jumping off places.  If you don't find anything like that, that's fine too.  At least you sat down and wrote something, and reminded yourself that facing the blank page really isn't the most terrifying thing in the world.

I've had some major creative breakthroughs while freewriting.  It might take you a few tries, but you may find that this technique is just what you need to get unstuck.

Method Two: Clustering/Mapping/Webbing

Like freewriting, clustering (a.k.a. mapping or webbing) is a great technique even if you aren't blocked.  For blocked writers, it can be a great way to get the ideas flowing.  There is an extensive guide to clustering and freewriting on my Blackboard "Writing Resources" website.  Go to the Course Content page, and click on the PowerPoint presentation called Writing for Publication Part II: Brainstorming a Topic.  This presentation will take you through the whole process and provide examples.

In a nutshell, clustering involves writing a general idea or area of interest in the center of a piece of paper (or, if you're a 3D person like me, you can stick Post It notes to a wall instead).  For example, you might want to write about pain management, but you're not sure what aspect you want to examine.  You'd write "pain management" in the center of the page.
Now, fanning out from that central idea, write whatever other ideas come to mind.  Eventually you'll have something that looks like a web or wheel (hence the names of this technique).  For example, "acute pain," "post-op pain," "chronic pain," "pain in infants," "pain in the elderly," etc.  Next, fan out from THOSE with more specific ideas.  For example, from "chronic pain" you might get "cancer pain," "back pain," "pain from injury," "pain from illness," etc.  Keep going until you can't think of anything else.  More often than not, you'll find yourself zeroing in on one or two main categories.  You might find that you think of a million ideas around the topic of chronic back pain, for example, and the pros and cons of one specific new technique for treating it.  Now you have an idea for a paper.

Method Three: Get Help

One common mistake that blocked writers make is to suffer in silence.  If you're blocked, try asking for help.  Sit down with a classmate and have an informal chat about the project that's driving you nuts.  It can be tremendously helpful to bounce ideas off a peer.  When I was in college, I always talked my papers over with my roommate (who was also an English major) before I sat down to write them.  You can also make an appointment with me, your writing specialist, or with your advisor or professor.

Method Four: Relax!

Often, writer's block is a symptom of stress.  You may lack confidence in your writing ability, or you may not fully understand your assignment (in which case you should make an appointment with your professor as soon as possible).  In any case, you're feeling stressed.  The sight of that blank page fills you with dread.
You need a break.  Get up from your desk and go for a walk.  Go to the gym.  Go grab dinner or coffee with a friend.  Do something to take your mind off your writing project, even if it's just a quick break to watch your favorite TV show.  When you come back you'll be rejuvenated, and hopefully better able to generate ideas.  This might be a good time to try Method One, freewriting, or Method Two, clustering.
If you can't afford to take more than a few minutes away from your project, you can at least do some deep breathing and stretching to calm down (and once you finish this project, you may need to reevaluate your work habits so that you'll have more time to work on the next paper).  Also, remember that you are NOT the only person to suffer from writer's block.  Almost everybody does, sometimes.  It doesn't mean you're a bad writer.

Basically, the keys to writer's block are: 
 
1.) Remember that your first efforts don't have to be spectacular: Turn off that inner editor. He has no business bothering you until you're a few drafts into your project!

2.) WRITE.  Even if it's terrible, just sit down and write something.  You won't beat writer's block by avoiding the problem.

I hope this week's post has been helpful.  Happy scribbling!
*BIG thanks to Debra Anderson for suggesting this topic.

Whitney Kurtz-Ogilvie, MFAW