Deborah E. Blair
There are a number of ways I deal with writer's block. Every writer develops their own methods to get through it. For me:
1) Walking in the fresh air daily - but even for five minutes if a block comes up. Walking with a dog is a great help over walking with a human - as having time to not be engaged with social interactions - not that your dog (s) aren't social! But it helps to simply be in the moment as you are walking - seeing the sights, focusing on your breath, smelling the smells- it allows me to return to my writing with a refreshed mind.
2) Bouncing on a mini-trampoline! I keep a mni-trampoline in my office and periodically during the day - I get up and bounce! Great for the circulation, great to clear the mind blocks out!
3) Showing up at regularly scheduled times. If I schedule short writing times of 6 am till 8 am - then I sit there and write - or not. But the phone is off and no excuses - except letting the dogs out - are acceptable. No vacuuming, no making quick phone calls. It allows the conscious and deep UN-Conscious to settle in and know that writing is the task.
4) Meditation twice a day - on a regular time each day. I have meditated formally since 1970 - forty-seven years. As a person, meditation teacher, psychotherapist - I have seen in my own life and that of my clients and friends how regular practice is good for all artists of any medium - as well as for all people. But for visual artists, actors, musicians, and writers formal meditation nourishes one's mind, body and soul which allows creativity to flow.
5) Nourishing my spiritual life daily. Prayer and reading spiritual literature.
6) READ!!!!! From early childhood on I have read. Read widely! Often reading in your own genre is not as good as reading in a variety of topics from fiction to non-fiction. I also listen to audio books. Listening to and reading other authors is refreshing to your creativity which is born in the deep unconscious.
And if these and other tricks don't work for authors - I do recommend a few sessions of psychotherapy with a well trained therapist to help identify underlying issues that the consciousness is not aware of if simple methods don't get through a block - I have seen this help for everyone in the arts.
1) Walking in the fresh air daily - but even for five minutes if a block comes up. Walking with a dog is a great help over walking with a human - as having time to not be engaged with social interactions - not that your dog (s) aren't social! But it helps to simply be in the moment as you are walking - seeing the sights, focusing on your breath, smelling the smells- it allows me to return to my writing with a refreshed mind.
2) Bouncing on a mini-trampoline! I keep a mni-trampoline in my office and periodically during the day - I get up and bounce! Great for the circulation, great to clear the mind blocks out!
3) Showing up at regularly scheduled times. If I schedule short writing times of 6 am till 8 am - then I sit there and write - or not. But the phone is off and no excuses - except letting the dogs out - are acceptable. No vacuuming, no making quick phone calls. It allows the conscious and deep UN-Conscious to settle in and know that writing is the task.
4) Meditation twice a day - on a regular time each day. I have meditated formally since 1970 - forty-seven years. As a person, meditation teacher, psychotherapist - I have seen in my own life and that of my clients and friends how regular practice is good for all artists of any medium - as well as for all people. But for visual artists, actors, musicians, and writers formal meditation nourishes one's mind, body and soul which allows creativity to flow.
5) Nourishing my spiritual life daily. Prayer and reading spiritual literature.
6) READ!!!!! From early childhood on I have read. Read widely! Often reading in your own genre is not as good as reading in a variety of topics from fiction to non-fiction. I also listen to audio books. Listening to and reading other authors is refreshing to your creativity which is born in the deep unconscious.
And if these and other tricks don't work for authors - I do recommend a few sessions of psychotherapy with a well trained therapist to help identify underlying issues that the consciousness is not aware of if simple methods don't get through a block - I have seen this help for everyone in the arts.
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