Block
Since Saturday last week, I’ve been thinking about what to write in this blog. I couldn’t think of anything, but thinking that I couldn’t think of anything reminded me of “writer’s block,” which is the condition of not being able to think of the next thing to write while writing.
It was something I experienced quite often when I was writing articles for my journalism classes in university. Maybe people have their own way of dealing with writer’s block, and I think it was journalist who was a guest speaker in one of my classes in university who said that there is no such thing as a writer’s block.
Maybe for some journalists it doesn’t exist because they have to finish their stories by the deadline, no matter what. But for other people (like me) it does, so I do the following when I get stuck while I’m writing:
- 1. Walk
Walking helps me with a lot of things whether I’m struggling with writer’s block or stressed or I can’t come up with ideas for my English conversation lessons. I’m not sure why it helps me; but when I read Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Genius, I found out that philosophers in Ancient Greece, like Socrates, walked a lot and it helped with their thinking. So I guess that means it works. - 2. Read
When students ask me advice on how they can improve their speaking, I always tell them that they have to listen a lot. It’s the same thing with writing: if you want to write better, read more. I’ve already written enough about the effects of reading to writing in a previous blog post, but I think I forgot to write that reading can also give you ideas, which can help you get over a writer’s block. - 3. Talk
This is similar to number 2 except instead of going to a book, you go to a person. Talking to someone about what you’re writing could give you ideas that you could use in your writing. Of course, the ideas you get depends on the person so choosing the right person to talk to is important.
The above three methods probably won’t work for everyone, but they have for me. So maybe they can help someone struggling with writer’s block too.