Overcoming Writer’s Block
We’ve all been there. We have this great idea and inspiration leads to motivation. But then that motivation eventually disappears and the inspiration follows quickly after.
Now what?
When you are stuck, how do you get unstuck?
As a believer, my first recommendation is probably an answer you’d expect, but shouldn’t take lightly. Pray. Pray for these things:
Wisdom & discernment - pray that He helps you sift through the thoughts in your head to decide which ones honor Him most with regard to your book.
Inspiration & revelation - it’s okay to ask God for what you want! He is the author of life and is absolutely able to provide inspiration!
A clean heart - is there anything that you need to confess that may be blocking you from hearing Him clearly?
After you pray, I challenge you to sit in your chair, set a timer for 15 minutes, put your fingers on the keyboard (or pick up the pen if you prefer writing by hand), and do something called stream of consciousness writing. If you’ve never tried it before, now is the time!
Steam of consciousness writing is writing down every thought that comes into your mind. EVERY thought. It’s not polished, it often doesn’t have punctuation. It’s literally your thoughts, from one to another. Your thoughts will likely wander from the topic at hand - don’t worry, that’s normal. I’ve found that they eventually find their way back.
Here’s an example:
“Ok God I’m sitting here writing and I don’t know what to write about. I’m stuck. Help me get unstuck. I like that my desk has purple on it. Purple makes me happy. Man I have a lot of notebooks but it helps me stay organized. Maybe I can say something about the importance of organization? I think sometimes people assume that everyone does things the way they do, or everyone thinks the same way they do. So while organization comes naturally to me, or at least it’s my preference even if I”m not always organized. Maybe I can give some tips to help writers stay organized. I’m thirsty. Maybe I should take a drink. I can’t forget to put the meatballs in the crockpot for dinner. This was really random.”
I wrote down every thought I had, no matter how random or “unproductive.” I saw my physical space around me and thought about how many notebooks I had, which led to thinking about how I stay organized. If I were focused on clarity and being concise, I would have majorly condensed that paragraph down, and I had to resist the urge to do that. The point is to get the thoughts out and polish them once you’re done.
The key to stream of consciousness is not to overthink it. Now there will be times where it’s not as “productive” as you may have liked. Maybe you didn’t get any new ideas out of it. BUT that doesn’t mean it wasn’t productive. You sat down and dedicated time to your writing, which shows that you’re practicing discipline. Discipline is essential to the writing process. Inspiration is wonderful and you should go with it when you’re inspired! But discipline is what will get you where you want to go.
Try it out and let me know how it goes!
