Writer's Block
Here's a scenario: You’re in your dorm sitting at your computer. You have an essay due in a couple of days, so you decide to log out of Facebook and get started on writing it. You open Google Docs and complete your header, but then your typing stops. The cursor on your otherwise blank word document is now just blinking away in front of you. You’re stuck.
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Well, my poor, unfortunate colleague, you have writer’s block.
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Writer's block is not an official psychological diagnosis, but it is arguably a very real form of creative anxiety, or even creative paralysis, that every writer eventually goes through. If you haven't gone through it, you wouldn't be reading this article, would you?
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Now, when I say "writer," I don't mean just the people who make a living from it. A writer is anyone who has ever had to write anything, ever. In the moment of writing something, you're a writer. Period. A little reminder I like to tell my friends and classmates is: "You may feel like you aren't a writer, but anyone with feelings can write."
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Writing can be difficult, that's for sure. Organizing thoughts and trying to put them on paper can be a heck of a process. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that you just stop and panic. J.K. Rowling, for example, had thought about breaking her own arm just to avoid a looming Harry Potter deadline. See this article to read more about it. Talk about taking it to the extreme!
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Take this to heart: Overcoming writer's block has nothing to do with how good or bad of a writer you are, but everything to do with how you handle stress, manage time, and tune your mindset.
Nevertheless, it happens to everyone; even to the most famous of authors. But even the most famous of authors need to keep the above statement in mind. And before it gets so bad that you think about breaking your arm, my dear colleague, I have some good news:
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Writer's block has hacks.
J.K. Rowling
