Hacking your way through a tangled mind:

Time to unlock writer’s block

Gaston De ROSAYRO

For many writers the hardest part of all is getting started. Imagine sitting down in front of a computer screen or looking at clean sheet of paper. You start rolling up your sleeves and begin looking for an opening bar. No, I am not talking about the gin-soaked hacks waiting for opening time outside their favourite watering-hole. I am talking about kick-starting that initial sentence. You actually want to write but you then find everything has gone blank. That is what we call ‘Writer’s Block.’ 

We may be facing a deadline that should compel us to write. But instead of feeling motivated or inspired, we grow anxious and frustrated. And those negative feelings can make it even harder to get started. If it is any consolation, you are not alone. Many professional writers have also had frustrating encounters with the empty page or the blank screen. But just as professionals have found various ways to overcome writer’s block, you, too, can learn how to meet the challenge of the empty screen. All I can do in this regard is to offer you some advice on how to surmount the problem.

Writer’s block is the scourge of most scribes. Its seemingly random descent can cast doubts on the feasibility of meeting deadlines and cause general unrest. This strange affliction often comes on unprovoked and seems to strike at the most inopportune of moments. Although there is no cure as such - most notably because it is not an ailment per se - there are certainly things that can be done to stimulate the creative zones of your brain back into action to get you back on track.

In many cases, writer’s block is simply an absence of motivation or a prevalence of distractions. Spending too long poring over a written task or spending an inordinate amount of time attempting to re-work or rewrite existing passages can really drain the will to work. Quite simply, writer’s block is generally a side effect of boredom, lack of urgency or pre-occupation. In order to counter this there are a number of techniques, the effectiveness of which is dictated as much by the nature of the individual as it is by the situation.

To a large extent it depends on your mind, your deadline and the type of writing. If you are unable to complete a piece, article or chapter due to a temporary inability to focus then the first thing to do is step back from the work. Quickly assess your emotions. Are you tired, hungry, worried or excited? Although it seems such a seemingly simple, even silly thing to do by distancing yourself from the task at hand you are more able to focus on the underlying issue.

Writer’s block is a purely mental phenomenon and can be resolved by learning as much as you can about the circumstances in which you work best. Once you know the ideal environment and form of motivation for you then it is easy to go about tailoring the situation to induce maximum productivity. Writers block as the term suggests is a state of fear or anxiety. It can be a fear of failure as a writer or it can be a fear that what you have written is not good enough to be published. As to why is it menacing is because sometimes it can be days without a written word and that’s really terrifying for a writer whose bread and butter depends on it.

So now the question is how to cure this writer’s block. People who earn a living from their writing literally can’t afford to have a case of writer’s block. Nearly every writer has an opinion about the causes or treatment of writer’s block, even when that writer doubts the condition actually exists, either because she or he has not experienced it personally, or because the symptoms resolved without outside assistance.

Having established the root of the distraction, action can be taken to remedy the problem and regain focus. Obviously time constraints are important here. If you are exhausted but have a strict deadline then unfortunately short-term remedies such as a boost of caffeine or a brisk walk around your computer table may be on the agenda.

Equally if your distraction spawns from worry about something else then you may not have time to fully address this external problem. A sound alternative in this instance would be to spend a few minutes planning how you will remedy the issue responsible for the distraction once you have finished the more urgent writing task giving you at least some relief and a little more focus.

Some people react well with tight deadlines. Others react in the exact opposite manner. The key is to mentally organise yourself in the method which is most effective for you. If you have no set deadline for completing a task and work best when you do have a deadline then set yourself one! Conversely, if you have a tight deadline but are dwelling on the pressure of completing in time then set yourself shorter deadlines with incremental rewards leading up to completion in the set time.

But newspaper journalists often working against suicidal deadlines cannot afford to suffer such mental disorder. They have to hack their way through the tangled web of their minds like an adventurer slashing his way through thick undergrowth.

Is writer’s block real or is it all in your head? The answer could be both. I, for one, don’t believe in writer’s block. I know, it’s a confession writers are not supposed to make. It’s similar to standing up in church and announcing that I don’t believe in the Devil. For the record, I do, because I know for certain there are darn idiotic editors out there who must be spawned by the Devil himself. They scare themselves so much by their own paranoia and let the devil take the hindmost!

As a newspaper editor, myself, I have often told my staff that writer’s block does not exist. Boredom and hangovers do. Am I the only one who thinks writer’s block is a myth? Not according to any of the legendary editors I have worked with either. I find, magically almost, that newspaper deadlines are a sure-fire cure for writer’s block. As the Yankee-Doodle Dandy editors say: “When you gotta write, you gotta write!”

I always talked myself and my staff out of believing in writer’s block. If you write for a daily or even a weekend newspaper with exacting deadlines the obstruction goes away. Habit primes the pump! Journalists facing perilous deadlines literally and figuratively can’t afford to allow their minds to go blotto. People who earn a living from their writing plainly can’t afford to have a case of writer’s block.

The perfect paragraph, word after word, is a carefully constructed piece of art. But hanging yourself up on creating that perfect paragraph will win you an all-expense paid trip to ‘Writer’s Block Island.’ Meaning you will be out of job. The toughest editor I worked under once threatened a bunch of reporters dawdling over their stories 20 minutes before a deadline. There was a mad scramble as a half dozen newsmen rushed to their seats to unclog their blocked brains!

His menacing threat is now part of journalistic legend: “Look here you loud-mouthed lotus-eating lounge lizards. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. Your desk is a work station. If you do not hand in your copy within the next fifteen minutes my boot will be in contact with your sitting stations!”