So you finally got down to write your story. You take out a pen, paper and begin your outline only to find that your mind went blank…
Dear writer, your problem is so common that it’s probably considered a medical issue. Writer’s Block happens to all of us — Or that is, all those who cannot cure it.
Writer’s Block is the inability to productively write anything for a certain period of time.
Symptoms of Writer’s Block
1) Your brain is woozy and you cannot think clearly for more than 10 seconds.
2) You’ve been sitting in front of the word possessor for more than 60 seconds and haven’t made any progress.
3) You’re wondering why you ever became a writer.
4) You think your writing sucks.
Chances are, if you’ve been recently let down by a newpaper or a publisher, you’re more likely to experience writer’s block. However, it happens to everyone.
Why does it happen?
1) You’re afraid of people’s (or your own) opinions if your writing isn’t perfect.
2) You’re forcing yourself to do too much in too few time.
3) You’re not enjoying what you’re writing.
4) You’re tired.
5) You’ve been sitting in a chair for more than an hour.
How to Cure It
Curing writing block isn’t as hard as you may think at the time. Here is a check-list of things you need to try before you even think about medical help.
1) Just write. No one’s going to throw tomatoes at you if you fail, and you don’t have to publish it either. Just write something completely irrelevant to what you were working on before. Write for 15 minutes straight. If by then your brain isn’t melting with ideas, proceed to number “2″.
2) My favorite strategy. Take out a piece of paper. Write your life story in under 10 words. Draw a cat. Pierce the paper. Scribble. Sometimes we’re scared of the paper and what our story will become. This helps your mind remember that you dominate the paper, not it.
3) Exercise. If your brain hasn’t received an ounce of oxygen since the last time you wrote something, it’s time to take a walk. Sign up for a daily Martial Arts class. Run for 1 hour every day. Go swimming. Go hiking. Play soccer with your family. Learn gymnastics. The great thing about these things is that they automatically give you new ideas for your story. We tend to come up with ideas while we’re not thinking about writing at all.
4) Take a shower. This is known to pump oxygen into your brain. It’s also known to make you clean, too. 
5) Try Timeboxing.
6) Write something else.
7) Use some other writing method. If you’ve been writing on pen and paper, switch to computer. If you’ve been using a computer, use notecards. If you’ve been using notecards, try writing on walls. Whatever, sometimes you’ve experienced writer’s block so often that just staring at the same page over and over can make your brain drop dead.
8. Try writing in different times. If you write at 2:00 at night, obviously you’re not going to be able to do anything. My ideal time is during the afternoon, but you should really look at when works for you best.
9. Write the worst possible thing you’ve ever written. You’ll often find that it takes lots of revising to do this, as even breezing straight through could score as a good article.
10. Do some research.
11. Turn off your internet connection. If you’ve been checking your email every 30 seconds, you’re not going to write much. It usually takes me 15 minutes of writing straight through before I can actually make progress, and every little interruption resets those 15 minutes back to zero.
12. Reward yourself. If you’ve been writing forever and with no results, why write again? Your brain thinks.
13. Write with your eyes closed. If you’re too concerned about what you’ve just written, you’ll constantly be hitting “backspace.” Just write, for heaven’s sake. Use a typewriter if it helps you.
14. Read.
15. Carry a notebook everywhere
Whatever the reason, you’ll always find some way to cure Writer’s Block.
