Creative Writer’s Block – 5 Reasons Why Writer’s Block Is Not A Terminal Condition

The words “Writer’s Block” can strike fear into the heart of writers young and old, form the virgin wordsmith to the veteran novelist.

For many of us, suffering from writer’s block at certain points in our writing careers feels as inevitable as the fact that the sun rises each morning and sets again each night.

And that’s the biggest danger of writer’s block.

The way we actually buy into this collective idea that if we’re a writer then yes we will be afflicted by writer’s block and yes it’ll be hard to overcome.

So it makes sense that to banish the dreaded block, we need to shatter this belief.

To help you, here are 5 reasons why in fact writer’s block is NOT a terminal condition:

1. We can choose what we focus on. The human mind has a few major blind spots in its logic. One of them is dealing with negatives. Even if we think “I will NOT suffer from writer’s block”, our mind tends to pick out the words: “Suffer. Writers. Block”.

The more we focus on NOT being blocked, the more we attract the state of being blocked. So instead, we can choose to focus on words and states like being creative, productive, inventive and flowing.

2. We can take preventative action.You know the old saying prevention is better than cure? Totally true in this case too. We can notice the times we’re more likely to feel stuck and find it more difficult to write.

Then we can take action and precautions to ensure we don’t put ourselves in these kind of situations and circumstances. By avoiding these times when we’re more likely to struggle to create, we increase our chances of writing freely.

3. We can practice being more creative and having more ideas. Adopting a mindset that you’re a creative person and that ideas are in everything around you is essential to banish writer’s block.

The more you get used to seeing ideas and finding inspiration in the tiny details of everyday life, the more of a readily available stockpile of ideas you have to call upon and develop with your writing.

4. We can change our beliefs. If we believe we’re likely to suffer from writer’s block, we will. Our beliefs are more powerful than we often realise, and can influence every part of our life.

Take a good look at the beliefs you hold about creative writing – both in general about how you think writers are, and more specifically what you believe about yourself as a writer. Weed out those negative beliefs and replace them with ones more positive and supportive.

5. Ultimately, it’s a state of mind, not an external force. We are not slaves to writer’s block, quivering in fear with each word we write, in case it suddenly strikes us and renders us helpless to write anymore.

Writer’s block is as real, and as big an issue, as you want to believe it to be. You’re the only person who can overcome this false idea that writer’s block is something you are at the mercy of.

These are 5 powerful reasons why writer’s block need not be a terminal condition for you and your creative writing.

What action can you take today to start putting to rest the beliefs and mindsets that hold your writing back?

Here’s a bonus tip to overcome writer’s block: Sit down, get a pencil and a sheet of paper and just write…