Writing Craft — Getting Past Writer’s Block

It’s 2018: New year, new writers, same old writing challenge

It’s the beginning of the year and Writer’s Block conversations are starting up all over the Internet. It is a common fear among new writers: What do I do when I can’t make myself write…

Here’s my prescription for this paralyzing but non-fatal disease of the mind. If you have writer’s block, here are some exercises which work for me and might work for you as well.

Be okay with not being perfect…its liberating. Start small.

Start with the idea you don’t have to make every piece a masterpiece. It puts too much pressure on you. Instead, relax, breathe and give yourself permission to fail. Your words on a page will not signify the end of humanity (unless they are Donald Trump’s tweets to North Korea) so you are good to write what comes to mind.

Then start with shorter pieces. Instead of going from: “I’ve never written anything to wanting to write a 200,000 word novel, instead I am going to write a short story with 250 words.”

Why? Because writing a story with 250 words, with a beginning, a middle and an end, forces you to use an economy of words. Only the right words will do, yet you are not required to blast…