• Julius Topohozin

Writer’s block, a term coined by the Austrian Psychologist Edmund Bergler in 1947, is a term used to refer to a non-medical condition in which a writer is unable to produce a new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer’s block is a common experience for writers. There comes a time in your writing journey when you lose that creative spark to turn out a new work or have this feeling that your recent work is not as good as the previous ones. This phenomenon happens to the best of us. We all, at one time or the other, experience a writer’s block. If you’re currently experiencing one, you’re not alone. In this article, I will be sharing with you tips on how to overcome writer’s block.

Causes of Writer’s Block

• Distraction

Perhaps, one of the causes of Writer’s block is attributed to distraction occasioned by loss of inspiration. When you’re overwhelmed by other events happening around you, irrespective of whether they are pleasant or not, you may likely lose interest in writing. At this time, your mind is wholly given to the new event, and so your writing drive is slowed down, if not inhibited.

• Psychological and neurological Causes

Psychologists believed that under stress, the brain shifts control from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system. This shift in limited input from the cerebral cortex affects a person’s creative processes. Thereby causing a ‘creativity blockage’.

• Procrastination

“Procrastination is a thief of time”, goes the popular saying. We can also say that procrastination is a thief of creativity. When you’re in the habit of postponing the writing you should undertake now to a more convenient time, you’ll find that the creative ideas yearning for release through pen and paper whittles down until it is no longer there.

• Laziness

Laziness births procrastination. Lazy writers often end up becoming creatively bankrupt because they have failed to perspire with the inspiration they have received.

Other causes of writer’s block are attributed to severe damage to the brain. When this happens, writing is greatly incapacitated. How can a writer overcome mental block?

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

• Write through the block

It will amaze you to know that one of the quickest ways to overcome writer’s block is to write through that creative slow down. When you experience creative impasse, shift your focus into writing something else; something entirely different. When you begin to do this, your creative spark will return by itself. What you have done here is that you have lessened the pressure on yourself with regard to completing the creative work you had earlier started.

• Take a walk

When you experience a writer’s block, then it is a sign that you need to take a walk. Allow your mind and your brain some rest. You can even rearrange your writing space. Sometimes, working through the same writing routine might become boring and it can impede creativity.

Focus on other things

Allow your mind a fruitful escape. Let your mind take a break from working on the same piece of writing into other things. You can spend time with friends, make a journey or be in an environment that will temporarily take your mind off writing. When your mind is allowed this kind of escape, you‘ll mostly recover your writing groove.

Write anything 

Write anything and don’t bother yourself about perfection. Just write anything that crosses your mind, including rubbish. Whatever you write is meant for your eyes only. It is not to be submitted for critiquing. You’re doing this to occupy your mind with other forms of writing before you go back into writing that great work.

• Find your fire

Reading through your favorite author’s books can inspire you to get back into writing. It can give you a fresh perspective into navigating the part of your work that is causing the block.

Writer’s block is not the end of a writer. It is just a temporary setback that can be overcome if you allow the tips shared in this article to be your guide.

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