Let’s do something fun and pick apart a common experience: writer’s block. Whether you’re a writer or not, you probably know the difficulty of trying to think of what’s next.

It could be as great as an artist stopping in the middle of a masterpiece.

Or as simple as having to do ten tasks and not knowing where to start.

What happens when you are disconnected from your thoughts in this way? What causes it?

And what can you do to overcome it?

(Note: This article focuses on literal writer’s block—the inability to write. But you can adapt the principles when you feel stuck.)

What really is writer’s block?

I used the word “offline” above. This is what writer’s block feels like: being disconnected from a place, state, or emotion where writing flows easily. As I type this, I have relevant thoughts about writing that translate seamlessly into words on my screen.

It’s nice, easy and effortless.

In this way, writing well is a form of flow state. As Csikszentmihalyi describes it, you enter the flow state when the task you’re doing is difficult enough to expand your abilities. This absolutely applies to writing, at least, writing worth reading.

Anything too easy or too difficult to write will become junk on the page.

In Stealing Fire, Kotler and Wheal describe altered states of consciousness as states in which you lose awareness of yourself, lose all sense of time, it feels easy to stay on task, and there is an intensity (or “richness”) to the task. experience. Again, this applies perfectly to writing.

So your best writing happens in the flow state or during an altered state of consciousness.

Which means writer’s block is when you can’t get into the flow.

And you’re too conscious to write.

Would anyone challenge that definition? That’s exactly what it feels like to me. It’s like you can’t completely switch off and just write.

Disconnected from writing by his own thinking.

Emotions Don’t (Always) Cause Writer’s Block: Here’s What Does

There is a theory that writer’s block stems from negative emotions. If he’s upset about a fight with his best friend, eager to write well, or insecure about his abilities, it may stop him from writing.

All of that makes sense, and working through emotions can help.

However, this is far from the only cause. Even with a clear mind and calm emotions, you may have a hard time putting a sentence together, let alone an essay.

You can be an amazing writer and still hit this roadblock. It’s called “writer’s block,” after all: it assumes you’re a writer in name.

If lack of skills or confidence isn’t causing it, what could be?

Most likely, you are suffocating with your own rules and strategies.

Think about what I said about the flow state and altered states of consciousness. If anything is going to disconnect you from this, it’s the wrong kind of conscious thinking.

Writing is an unconscious activity. When you move your arm, you set an intention: you don’t consciously activate each muscle in a precise sequence. Similarly, when you write, you don’t consciously choose each word: you set an intention and the words to get out.

If you consciously try to interfere, either with your arm or your words, everything goes crazy.

If you have writer’s block, then your writing rules and strategies are making you overly self-conscious.

That is how:

Common Thinking Mistakes That Create Writer’s Block

If you want to write, then you need to follow rules and strategies. If nothing else, you need enough grammar and spelling to get your point across. Without any strategy, your paragraphs will randomly fall from one to another.

Writing is like solving problems: you can either dive in and start churning, or you can approach it with the right thoughts.

But if you’re stuck, you’re probably doing one of the following:
• Follow rigid rules instead of guidelines,
• Using the wrong guidelines,
• Adopting many, many, too many guidelines,
• Bringing broken perspectives to your writing,
• Chiseling your strategies in stone,
• Make your strategies complex,
• Ignore comments and information.
•
Following rigid rules instead of guidelines

How long does it take you to write your opening paragraph?

Do you spend ten minutes?

An hour?

Plus?

That’s strange, given that it’s only a few sentences. The only way it would take more than 30 seconds is if you’re overthinking it.

I can hear that some of you are already objecting. The first paragraph is the most important! It has to attract attention! He has to say something new! Has to…

It has to, it has to, it has to.

You don’t have to do anything. Generally speaking, the first paragraph should grab attention. I should say something new. But there is no law that says so.

If a rule is holding you back, abandon it. After all, there are only guidelines. You can even break grammar and spelling if you have a point.

Using the wrong guidelines

Some people say that an email should be between 300 and 800 words. it doesn’t

Some people say that you need to make three arguments in an essay. You do not.

Some people say that a sales letter should include a money back guarantee. You are wrong.

These can be helpful guidelines… or they can paralyze you. Let’s say you’re writing emails for kids with ADHD – 300 words is too much. What about the Oxonian teachers? 800 words is too little.

Guidelines do not apply in all contexts or all of the time. That is why they are called guides.

If following a pattern weakens your writing, your brain will rebel and shut down the process. Follow the wrong ones and it’s a recipe for writer’s block.

Adopting many, many, too many guidelines

Let’s take a simple example:

Guideline 1: Brevity is the soul of wit.

Guideline 2: Add details, anecdotes, and more information than the reader can use.

Both are good guidelines. I have used both, separately and together, to create great writing.

The problem is that they contradict each other. And that’s just with two guidelines. If you have dozens, it will be even worse.

It will be so bad that you will not be able to write and follow them all. You think of a sentence, it grinds against a guide, so you throw it away. Different sentence, different directive. And so it goes on and on…

In the end, you’ve done a lot of thinking but not much writing, which is an excellent definition of writer’s block.

Bringing broken perspectives to your writing.

Here’s one I see often: technical people learn to think technically and then fall into the trap of not being able to write.

For lawyers, each word has a precise meaning. You cannot be loose with your words. So when you sit down to write, say, a short story, you push yourself.

For scientists, jargon is their lifeblood. Detailed, tightly structured, jargon-filled documents earn you praise and your paycheck. When you sit down to write, you choke on your own story.

It’s not just techies who bring their perspectives to the writing. Some poets are terrible storytellers, they just can’t get to the point. Probably most professions have a paradigm that helps in everyday work but kills good writing.

Chiselling your plans in stone

It pays to plan your writing before you start. Even with a simple email, you have a result in mind. Everything you add has to align with that purpose.

What does not pay is to follow your plan as if it were divine wisdom.

As I wrote this, I had a plan: a vague outline of what I would say. How similar is the final article to the first? Maybe 50%, maybe nothing. The plan was enough to get me going and stay focused. Everything else was just suggestions.

Complexifying your strategies

A piece of writing flows from one concept to the next. You should have a central idea that the writing reinforces. That’s why having a strategy helps.

But uselessly complicated contraption is not justified.

Complexity limits you. A vague plan is much, much better than one that ties you down.

Writing is about getting into the flow. If you can’t, it could be because you’ve over-prescribed what that “flow” should look like.

I have never written anything that did not surprise me. There is only so much you can plan for.

Ignore comments and information.

I started writing this by jotting down some thoughts on writer’s block. I then decided to develop this with a bit of research; surely someone has done the science behind it for me.

Many people have. And within minutes of reading the research, I completely scrapped my plan. I rewrote the bones and then, as mentioned above, threw out most of the bones.

People say, “Keep your audience in mind when you write.” Great advice, but it only helps if you know your audience. Imagining how you think they might be just keeps you in mind.

Research feeds your writing. Also plum.

Destroy writer’s block with these rules and strategies

All of the above is how it can go wrong. If you want to do this right, all you need is to do the opposite:
• Loosen any rules you have in guidelines. “Write how people talk” is less useful than “aim to write how people talk.”
• Be very selective about the rules you keep. Keep them small in number and never let them get in the way of your writing. “While at your desk, write, write anything” is a respectable rule because it forces you to write.
• Do not be loyal to your directives. If a pattern usually serves you well, but is now hindering you, drop it now.
• Good strategies are closer to philosophies than to tactics. You are not invading a nation; you’re writing. Keep your strategy loose and wide.
• Your strategy must be flexible. If it serves your writing, it should be twisted into pretzels.
• If your strategy doesn’t serve its purpose, it can’t be a good strategy. Leave it in a hurry.
• Look up information before you write. Look for comments as you type or after.

(Yes, some of these rules contradict each other, especially the first two. They’re allowed because they’re not rules, they’re guidelines.)

And if this doesn’t work, consider that writing has three phases:
1) Brainstorming, fact finding and topic selection,
2) Writing, and
3) Edition

Don’t edit as you type. Don’t research as you write. Write when you’re writing and let nothing stop you.

A final thought:

Sometimes writer’s block is what you need. Perhaps your ideas are not yet mature. Maybe you are not a machine that generates words like a factory generates widgets. Be kind to yourself and take the time. If you try all of the above and still have difficulties, consider rethinking everything you planned to write.

Your unconscious could be telling you that there is a better way.