How To Overcome Writer's Block (according to Kat) and Other Bits of Inspiration!

1. Create a schedule: Set aside time for writing and stick too it.


2. Create goals: Come up with reasonable and achievable goals for yourself.


3. Create deadlines: Set deadlines for your goals but make these achievable. Deadlines you can't meet just make writer's block worse because it increases your fear. Know what works for you, but stay true to what you set. Start with little goals and work your way up.


4. Create a comfortable and inspirational writing space: If you have chosen writing as a career, it deserves it's own space just as an artist would have a studio or a lawyer a home office. Even if space is limited, section of a corner of a room. Get a comfy chair, or a beanbag, or a desk if you can afford it. Fill this area with things that inspire you. I have chosen to fill the area with items that inspire the project I am working on at the time as well as photographs and quotes that make me smile. Do whatever you need to do to increase inspiration.


5. Take breaks: If you are having trouble writing, leave it for a night. Sometimes taking a break and working on something else is a good escape. The important thing to remember is to not give up. The greatest novels were not written overnight, but over longer periods of time.


6. Try writing exercises: Sometimes the best way to break writer's block is to write, about anything! Often times, if you can start writing about other random things you can break out of your shell and get inspired to continue writing what you need to be.


7. Take a walk, drive, or dance around your apartment: I'm not kidding! Not only do these activities get you moving and increase brain-flow, they are a fun way to find inspiration. Who knows what you will see while you are on your walk or driving. Many times I have found inspiration in the most unexpected places!


8. Call a friend: Friends are great for brainstorming sessions. Try out your story on them! Have some fun and see if they have any good ideas. I don't know what I would do without my best friend. Together we come up with really random ideas that many times form the base for a new story idea that I take to paper. Also, I have a good friend who is very amazing at finding random things to inspire me such as books or movies or just talking to me about various ideas. You'd be surprised at who is willing to help out!


9. Chill out: Usually the biggest cause of writer's block is a combination of fear and anxiety. Your inner-critic is often the harshest critic of all and outside pressures don't help at all. Breathe, and remember that you won't get anything done if you are freaking out! As my little brother would say... "take a chill pill frill dill!"


10. Remember why you started writing in the first place: Today's society is all about "right now" and "instant gratification." However, the best writer's know that writing isn't all about the money (as nice as it is). There is a reason you started writing in the first place and it probably wasn't because you hated it! Remember why you wanted this career to begin with, and why risking becoming a "starving writer" was worth it. Worry about whether it will get published or not later. After all, if you get so freaked out you can't write it really won't ever happen. Stay true to you, and always remember that inspiration that got you going in the first place. This is your passion... keep dreaming. You can do it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some fun quotes that I found to be humorous in regards to the ups and downs of writing! Proof that you're not alone!

***

"Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write."-Paul Rudnick

***

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." -Mark Twain

***

"The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair."-Mary Heaton Vorse

***

"The easiest thing to do on earth is not write."-William Goldman

***

'The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers had it.'
- Ernest Hemingway
***
"One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily."-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

***

"Never, never, never, never give up." - Winston Churchill