Have you ever had extended writer’s block? How long did it last? What did you do to break out of it, and do you have tips for other bloggers?
I constantly find myself struggling with writer’s block, but the problem is that I can’t skip past it and come back to it later. Everything needs to be written in order.
Doing this ‘daily prompt’ challenge initially started off being far too easy, as most of the initial prompts were things that I could knock over whilst sitting at my desk at work, hence I decided to take on two daily challenges. This initially started off being quite manageable, however, soon became too overwhelming, and all of a sudden I had an extensive backlog (like I do now) to try and tackle.
The problem that I face, though, is rather than just writing from the most recent prompt, and then working backwards, I simply couldn’t do it. I have the need to make sure that I write all my prompts in chronological date order. It’s a little OCD, but I cannot allow myself to chop and change and write whatever post I want. It needs to stay in order.
This becomes quite a problem when I come across a post and get writer’s block. I can get a post, and really struggle with it. Because I can’t skip past it and come back to it later, if I struggle to come up with something in response, then it becomes a blockage for all my other posts.
If you’re guiding yourself getting stuck with a daily prompt, and don’t really care about writing things in order, unlike myself, then just skip it sands come back to it later – there’s nothing wrong with that.
Another thing I’ve started doing with my daily prompts, is answering them as a creative piece, rather than a personal piece. I’ve actually found this to be much easier with prompts that aren’t really relevant to me. So next time, rather than struggle with it, make something up instead and flex your creativity.
As much as being able to write things on the go using your phone, especially during transit (such is what I do) is a great option, it’s much better to create a comfortable space for you to write. You want to be able to write, without interruption or distraction, for at least 20-30 mins (or longer if you’re able to). When I was working my second job, I’d generally find I had a good 2hrs up my sleeve, and would find a quiet corner of the food court and tap away at my iPad and Bluetooth keyboard. It allowed me to truly focus purely on my creative headspace and smash out some writing.
Never write when you’re tired. I’ve done this so many times and then, the next day, gone back over what I’d written, and it was terrible… And that’s providing it actually made any sense.
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