As someone who writes weekly articles, I am intimately familiar with the beast that is writer’s block. It creeps up on me when I’m least expecting it. I’ll sit down to right and find myself at a sudden loss for words. I’ll wrack my brain for something — anything — but to no avail. I’ll then find myself staring at a blank Google Docs page, trying to wrack my brain for any idea, any inspiration, any words, any single idea that could be used for an article. Usually I end up going through the following stages:
1. Denial
“I don't have writer’s block,” I tell myself every time I have writer’s block. “There’s just nothing interesting going on in my life right now.” This, of course, is a lie. I know I have writer’s block. I know that my well of inspiration is a dry as overcooked steak. I know that my brain is full of nothing but static. At this point I’m usually staring at the hypnotic blinking of the cursor, entranced by its metronomic mannerisms. This is when I usually move on to the next stage of writer’s block.
2. Self-doubt
“Maybe I’m not good enough,” I tell myself. “Maybe I’m just a bad writer after all.” I’m still staring at that cursor. I narrow my eyes at it. Is it mocking me as it sits there, as stagnant as my thoughts? Once my pity party finishes, I move to the next stage of writer’s block.
3. Procrastination
“I’m sure something will come to me if I just walk away from it for a while,” I shrug. Then I go off to browse social media. Check Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest, Skype Blogger, you name it I’ve probably checked it while avoiding writing my article. As of the say I’m writing this, I actually left my house for an hour to go to DogFest at the Baltimore Humane Society to avoid staring at a blank screen and a mocking cursor. Unfortunately, when I got home, the next stage of writer’s block kicked in.
4. Dread
The deadline draws ever-closer and the Google Docs page still looks like a fresh layer of snow in January. I type a paragraph, check the word count, and sigh. Not even triple digits. I hold down backspace until the paragraph is deleted. I type another paragraph, check the word count, and sigh again. I repeat this cycle about five times or more (usually more) before the next stage of writer’s block finally rears its welcome head.
5. Inspiration
Finally, some light flickers on in the recesses of my brain. My fingers are flying over the keyboard and the satisfying clack of words being formed fills my room. I hardly stop to see what my word count is, I just write and write until whatever genius idea I had is fully formed.
6. Success
I look over the article that spans the pages and smile. It’s done. It’s over. I’ve won this week’s hard-fought battle against writer’s block with minutes to spare. I give myself a pat on the back and wonder why I had stressed so much in the first place. Now, the hard part done, all that’s left is formatting and gifs. Easy peasy.
Combating writer’s block isn’t always easy, but the feeling of satisfaction afterwards is always worth the battle.
