Writer's block? Don't try harder. Please.

When the words just don't come ... or everthing sounds "terrible"

By Jana Denker

I know. I have been there. Often, in my 20 years of writing speeches.

You sit down to write, deadline approaching. You have a vague idea of what you want to say. And nothing useful comes. So you stare at the blinking cursor. Write a sentence. Delete it. Try another angle. Decide it sounds terrible. Make coffee. Come back. Start again.

When writer's block happens, trying harder to find the perfect sentence is rarely the best place to start.

Here are five things I do instead.

1. Get clear about what you are actually trying to do with this text.

Before worrying about how something sounds, ask yourself:

What should someone understand, feel or do after reading this? What is your purpose and message?

Try answering in one ordinary sentence. No beautiful language required.

If you can’t do that yet, you probably don’t have a writing problem. You have a thinking problem.

And better words won’t solve it.

2. Check whether something is missing

Sometimes we call it writer’s block when we simply don’t have enough to work with.

You might need more information. You may not understand your audience well enough yet. Perhaps the argument needs a concrete example before it makes sense.

When I get stuck, I often ask: What would I need to know to make this easier to write?

That question is much more useful than staring at an unfinished paragraph and demanding that it improve.

It’s hard to write your way around a hole.

3. Leave the screen and get moving.

This can feel particularly irresponsible when you have a deadline.

Do it anyway. Walk. Stretch. Dance. Take the famous shower.

Writing involves more than the minutes you spend typing. Ideas need time to connect, and sometimes concentrating harder is exactly what stops that from happening.

Take the question with you, rather than trying to force the answer.

Then come back.

4. Say it before you write it

Imagine a friend sitting opposite you asking:

“What are you actually trying to say?”

Answer them out loud. Forget the opening line. Forget whether it sounds intelligent. Explain the idea as you would to another person. Often the sentence you have been trying to manufacture appears naturally once you stop trying to write.

You can record yourself and transcribe the useful parts afterwards. Pen and paper can help too, particularly if the blank page has started to feel like an adversary.

5. Look underneath the perfectionism

Sometimes the words are there. You just won’t let them leave the room.

You write. Delete. Edit. Rewrite. Change one word. Change it back.

At that point, it is worth asking what all that editing is doing for you.

Perfectionism can be protective. As long as the piece isn’t finished, nobody can disagree with it. Nobody can misunderstand you. Nobody gets to decide whether what you have written is good.

And you don’t quite have to become visible yet.

That is a different kind of writer’s block.

You may not need another hour with the sentence. You may need to understand what makes it difficult to let the sentence be read.

Before you try to write better, find out why you’re stuck

Writer’s block is not one problem.

Sometimes the idea isn’t clear yet. Sometimes you’re missing information. Sometimes your thinking needs time away from the screen.

And sometimes you know perfectly well what you want to say, but saying it exposes you to someone else’s response.

Knowing which one you’re dealing with can save you a lot of miserable time with a blinking cursor.

The next time you get stuck, don’t start by asking: “How can I write this better?”

Start with:

“What is making it difficult to write this right now?”

The answer will usually tell you what to do next.

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