How to Get through writer’s block: seven actions to overcome this malady.

Welcome to another blog post, where I talk about writing, speaking, coaching, marketing, and marriage. Today I’m speaking about writing again – specifically, how to get through writer’s block.

Well, if you want to get through writer’s block, just keep reading. I’ll give you some tips for some ways to overcome that.

Overview of Overcoming Writer’s Block

Look at your plan.
Then, I will talk about writing a different section.
Write two pages of a list of reasons.
Ask yourself some questions.
Set a timer.
Do some free writing or fast writing on an unrelated topic. Take a break. (Just make sure your break is not days long.)

Look at Your Plan

So first of all, look at your plan. Is it just a word or two?

I actually am making an outline for myself. I don’t like to go beyond just the second level. In that case, you’d have your Roman numerals that would be your main points and then you would have just one below that which some people outline with letters others do Arabic numbers.

I do Arabic numbers because it’s easier to think of a list of numbers than it is a list of letters.

But anyway, some people go then beyond that with various points below the Roman numeral part and then the first part after that, and then a list of sub-points down below that, and then sub-points below the sub-points for you use whatever works for you what is best for you.

If you have writer’s block, you might not have gone down far enough. If you’re like me and you just like to go down maybe one level, this may be the time when you would want to go in and include some more sub-points.

I’ll give you some ways of doing that.

Go to a Different Part

Another idea for overcoming dreaded writer’s block is to just go to a different section of your book.

Now if you’re writing fiction, you might not have it planned out that far, but there are ways to do that with fiction, where you can derive any section that you want to write.

Sometimes that will help you if you’re not as excited about a certain chapter but you might be more excited about a later chapter.

Now if you’re doing nonfiction, if you plan your book out correctly, you should be able to go to a different chapter or a different section within a chapter, and sometimes that will help you.

You get the momentum going and then go back to the part that you had been dreading.

List Reasons Why is Your Project Important

The third one works especially well if you’re doing nonfiction. Get two pieces of scratch paper and just as quickly as you can, start listing a bunch of reasons why what you’re writing about is important.

Try to come up with two pages of reasons. Once you have come up with two pages of reasons, then you can go back through and pick out some of those and you’ll think, “Oh, I should have had those in my chapter anyway.”

Then go back through your chapters and put some of those ideas in.

Now you have also “primed the pump” by doing this.

Ask Yourself Questions

Here’s another very valuable one: simply ask yourself some questions.

In my book “How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less Without Stressing Yourself to Death,” I show you a way that you can plan out your whole book around just a list of questions.

If you have done it that way, then all you have to do is look at the question and answer the question. Then I talk about some ways that you can have some things that help you even get started with that.

If you are at a little bit of an impasse, then ask yourself a question. If you have written an outline or even if you just. phrases, go to those and turn them around and make them questions, and then just answer the questions.

Oftentimes this will get you going where you can get on through writer’s block.

Write Quickly

Now some of us have different personalities. You may be someone who is fine with going through and writing something and doing your editing later.

Maybe you are more comfortable with perfecting your paragraphs as you go along. That’s okay if that’s your personality unless it hinders you from getting your book done.

If that’s you, and that’s what’s causing your writer’s block, then consider just forcing yourself to go through it in a non-perfectionist way and just force yourself to write something.

You may say, “Well, it’s not any good.” Force yourself to go ahead and write anyway.

Then you can go back and edit it later.

Set a Timer

Something that can help you to force yourself to write is to set a timer. It can be just a simple kitchen timer.

Set your timer and then write just as quickly as you can. Just force yourself to write as quickly as you can. Then when the timer goes off you can go back and edit and polish what you wrote and get it just how you want it to be.

This technique, where you go write as quickly as you can for a certain amount of time, is called free writing.

Craftspeople like carpenters and plumbers do their tasks very, quickly, and very well because they have such experience doing it.

Write on A Different Topic

Another technique, which also involves fast writing, is to write about a topic that is unrelated to your main project. Just think of something to write about.

If you’re using the timer, I would recommend setting it for five minutes. Then sit and write for five minutes on an unrelated topic.

When you get through you may find that you have overcome writer’s block because now you have been able to write something.

Then you can go back to the original topic of your book or chapter. Then just go ahead and write some of that.

Take a Break

Or maybe it’s time to take a break. Oftentimes when you come back after the break, you’ll be ready to write.

I just want to caution you to make sure that break is not one or two days long.

But sometimes it’s good to take a break and then come back to your writing.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. If you’d like more tips, please go to www.randysblogs.com.

If you’re interested in having me speak at an event, go to www.randycarney.com. You’ll find some information there, along with a contact form for you to complete.

There is also the book I mentioned earlier “How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less Without Stressing Yourself to Death.”

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful week.

I’ll talk to you again. This is Randy Carney reminding you, YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK!

Five steps for stress-free writing. Welcome to my blog, where I talk about writing, speaking coaching, marketing and marriage. Today I’m talking about writing once again: Particularly, five steps for stress-free writing.

Ralph thought he wanted to write a book, but he got really stressed when he started trying to actually do it.

He went about starting the first page but didn’t get very far. He didn’t do very well for a while. He was starting out with fiction. He thought he would try writing nonfiction, but he still had some problems getting started.

Then it came to him, “Why get stressed out?” So he figured out some ways to come up with stress-free writing.

Get Something Out There

I once had a job that required that I write a certain number of words a day. I started trying to do those number of words every day, but my problem was, I was trying to make them the perfect words, and it became very difficult.

Then something came back to me that I had learned before, “Just get something out there.”

So I started off each day with the idea of just getting something out there and I would just start writing. I already had a plan in mind: sort of an outline or at least a topic, but I would just take off and I will just write as quickly as I could.

After about an hour and a half or so, I had my word count done for the day and it was wonderful.

Then I could go back and take out words, put in words, do some more research, and add in some more ideas. I was able to do some research for upcoming projects and go back and do some further editing on what I had done in the past.

That was the secret that, for me, became stress-free writing instead of stressful writing.

The Big Picture

First of all, get the big picture in mind.

What is it you’re wanting to write about? What is the big picture? What is the overall, overarching idea of what you want to write about?

Try to get the idea of what you’re going to write about down to one sentence. Don’t stress over that though. Just get a sentence or maybe a paragraph down for the general idea. Get the big picture.

Basic Plan

The second thing is to come up with a basic plan.

Once you have the big picture, try to divide that up into parts.

If it is a sequential thing, figure out the steps. Step one, step two, step three, and so on. Then you can hang your ideas on that.

How do you get your basic plan?

I have talked about mind mapping in the past. You can do a mind map or maybe come up with an outline.

An outline can just be a major point outline, or you might have a couple of sub-points.

Now if you’re really, really detailed and you are a person who writes off of really detailed outlines, go for it if it doesn’t stress you.

If you’re sort of a pantser: somebody who just likes to take off writing as the creative juices flow, the outline or plan doesn’t need to be as detailed.

Either way, just have the overall idea of what you’re writing about and have some major parts of what you’re writing about.

You can use your outline or your mind map for this.

Outline and/or Mind Map

I often find it helpful to do a mind map and then after that do an outline but try not to get too deep into the outline.

Once you’ve done that, you have a basic plan.

Next, you need to write and you want that writing to be stress-free. There are two ways to make the actual writing part stress-free.

Free-Flow Writing

The first one I mentioned earlier-fast writing. I started doing that every day in the job I had as a staff writer.

The idea is to do free-flow writing.

Find your topic, and when you come to the part in your plan where you’re going to write about something in that part, instead of stressing about that, just take off and write. If you don’t know how to start, ask yourself a question about it and then start answering the question.

Another way is to just pick a word and take that word and start writing with that.

Now granted, you may go back and change that first two or three sentences later, but just write.

Some people say don’t think. Of course, your mind actually will think, just don’t think to the point of stressing yourself. Remember you can always come back and change what you’re doing.

That’s one plan.

Talk Your Book

The other way is to record yourself. Talk your project out. You can do an audio or video recording on your phone.

After that, you can go back and you can transcribe the audio yourself or you can use a free transcription service on the internet.

The internet-based services usually have about 90% accuracy. You won’t be completely done if you do that but you can take it late and turn it into written words from your spoken speech.

You will want to revise it anyway when you’re going through the process.

So those are two ideas.

One is to just write as fast as you can. Just start and don’t worry about it. Just keep on going and know that you can add or subtract later. Just write. Get it down or speak it out. Later, you’ll be able to edit that.

So get the big picture and the basic plan. When you’re doing the actual writing, just do free writing or free speaking.

Scheduled Writing Time

When you have the basic plan, you need to set a schedule. There are two ways of handling your schedule.

You can decide on a time goal for the day.

In the case of writing a big project like a book, you’re going to write a certain amount every day; usually anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes during the day.

During that time, you can use free-flow writing or speaking.

Even within this method, there are even two ways of doing it. One way makes the time the variable and the number of words the goal. The other way of doing it is to make the number of words the goal and the time will be the variable.

Depending on your personality, one of these should work for you.

Time vs Word Count

If you’re going to utilize the word count method, you will just keep going until you get to the number of words that you have set as your goal. The time it takes you to reach that goal will probably vary from day to day.

I prefer the time constant with the word count being the variable. I have little projects, and many times I will just write for five minutes using free-flow writing. Then I’ll go to the next word or phrase or idea that I want to write about and again just write for five minutes.

If I’m through early I force myself to keep writing, although sometimes those are the things that will be thrown out later. If I don’t get through on time sometimes I just put an ellipsis (…) there so I know I have to finish that section later.

Now that will drive some of you crazy if you want to go with the word count method, but I found this to work very well for me.

So let’s go over the steps:

The first one is to get the big picture.
The second one is to have a basic plan: What are the parts of what you’re talking about?
The third one is to think about free-flow writing or speaking your words.
The fourth one is to write on a schedule. Decide whether you’re going to write three times a week or daily. Most writers like to write daily and then either write for a specified period of time or toward a certain number of words.

Draft of Your Writing

The fifth step after you’ve done all of the above, come up with a draft of your writing. Keep making passes through your writing and change it as you go through.

If you go through it three times, you’ll find that you have gotten it into much better shape and closer to how you want it. Then just keep going over until it is how you want it or until your time deadline arrives.

Those are five steps to stress-free writing.

Well, I hope these tips have been helpful to you.

If you’d like more tips on writing, go to www.randysblogs.com.

If you’re interested in having me come and speak at one of your events, click here and fill out the form and I will gladly reach out to you.

I also have a book that’s called “How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less Without Stressing Yourself to Death.”

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. This is Randy Carney reminding you that YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK!