Have you ever stared at a blank page while the Pomodoro reminded you with every tick that you would never become the writer you wanted to be?
Since I was five, I’d never lacked inspiration.
I would write stories, essays, letters, everything. Writing was joyful.
Later, I added more joy with blog posts and articles.
Writing was fun.
Why would people get stuck? This “writer’s block” thing had to be a hoax.
That was my belief until I was the one to sit and stare at a blank Word document with thousands of words whirling around in my head, but none on paper.
Where should I start?
My fingers would hover over a key . . . But then, nah. That wasn’t the right way to start. Maybe if I simply wrote . . . Nah, that wouldn’t work either.
Writing was no longer fun.
It was a duty, and with duties come procrastination.
It gets worse.
Writing doesn’t even have to be a duty. I’ve been stuck many times writing fiction.
I self-publish my books. I have no looming deadline. And yet, I couldn’t write.
Writing wasn’t fun.
Why not? Because my writing had gotten important to me. This was so important that I had to get it perfect. So you know where that’s going.
Yes, lots of coffee and a nicely uncluttered desk.
But no words down on paper. Nothing to publish.
My getting-stuck problems were caused by two different reasons, and ironically the same solution worked for both.
My first bout of writer’s block came from the publishing house I wrote for. Now I had a contract and a deadline.
I wrote because I had to. Not because I felt like it. And even though the idea was mine. They wanted me to include a lot of things in my books which I didn’t find interesting.
Thus, plenty of procrastination followed by frantic writing to hit the deadline.
My second bout of writer’s block came from how much I wanted to write fiction. It was a lifelong dream. It was important.
Very important.
So important that it was no longer fun. I felt the pressure, although it came from my own mind.
The solution to both?
Make writing fun.
One way to make writing fun is to simply write badly on purpose.
Set a timer for five minutes.
Your only job is to write something deliberately terrible. Don’t correct it. Don’t improve it. Just make it worse.
It will get you started. And you’ll have fun doing it.
Write in the voice of AI. See if you can match its style.
Or write like a 13-year-old European boy who has just learned that some letters sound like words, so he’ll write, “y r u mad?” instead of typing those long difficult three-letter words out.
Or simply make at least one spelling error in each sentence. On purpose.
Okay, the fun might leave that one fast. Thankfully, I have many more ideas and I’ll share them in my Writer by Choice community on Skool.
It doesn’t matter what kind of writer you are. You can write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, sales letters, emails, articles . . .
I’ll share techniques you maybe thought were just for fiction writers. And I’ll share techniques you maybe thought were just for copywriters.
And yet, they work in all kinds of writing.
And we’ll have weekly “put the fun in writing” exercises.
Plus you’ll get an amazing community where you can freely share your writing and get feedback from friendly writers who share your passion: writing.
If that’s your passion too, you’re invited in: https://clq.cx/writerbychoice