The Antidote to Writer's Block

If you suffer from writer’s block, you understand why this term may be the most dreaded in a writer’s vocabulary. Especially since no one seems to be immune. Even famous authors have wound up being stymied for weeks or, worse, months.

I have my own theory about what triggers writer’s block. Make that two theories. And they don’t have much to do with putting words on a page.

1) The writer doesn’t know what he or she really wants to say.

“I can teach anyone to write,” my father, the former Latin American/European/West Coast editor for LOOK magazine and author of more than 20 books used to say. “But I can’t teach people to think.”

I don’t care how great a writer you are. If you don’t know what you’re trying to say, you’re going to hit one heck of a road—er, writer’s—block. So you need to figure that out. The best way I know to do that is to indulge in some sloppy copy, which is essentially a written brain dump.

2) The writer has let his or her inner critic gain the upper hand.

We writers all harbor inner critics on steroids. I have yet to meet a single writer who deep down inside isn’t insecure about his or her work.

“It’s time to bind and gag your inner critic and throw him into a closet,” I tell my clients. “There will be plenty of time to dust him off, apologize profusely and let him do his job once you hit the rewriting phase. But for now, you need to let your ideas and your words flow. And there’s no way that will happen if you’re judging yourself so harshly.”

Once you’ve safely stashed your inner critic in a dusty, dark corner of your mind, you can take the next step and begin to explore all the ideas that surfaced in your sloppy copy.