Writing past the writer’s block

I’ve been blogging for a quite few years now and on my own website bit over a year. I also write songs constantly. So I thought I’ll share with you something I have learned about writing in general, that you can use in pretty much any kind of writing.

We all go times when it feels like the inspiration just is not there and we can’t write. I suppose it’s the blank page syndrome. I very strongly believe this is something we create ourselves. I mentioned before that I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I believe the process of writing does not require the stars to be lined up in the perfect way, I do not believe you need to be wearing your special writing sock or any other superstition for that matter.

I believe the most important thing about getting some writing done is turning up in the first place. You need to sit down and do it! The next thing is, you do not always need to know what you are writing about. You can just start writing pretty much nothing, but once your mind enters that writing mode, things start to happen. For example, if you are stuck, try this: Write about where you sit right now, write about your surroundings, smells noises you hear. Write how all this makes you feel. I bet somewhere along the way you start writing faster than you worry about not having anything to write about. Now once the writing juices are flowing keep going. And at the end you can even edit out the beginning part.

I’ve used the above method for songs as well. I wrote several verses and in the end threw away the first verse, where I was just breaking ice with the writing muse with in me. I often swap verses around, or rewrite the first verse. Also I often might rewrite it in a way that I use the descriptive language about my surroundings, just remove my self out of it and replace it with the listener 😉

Writer’s block can be daunting, but it can also be an excuse of not putting in the work. You need to silence that little demon inside your head screaming you can’t do this and start to believe that you and only you can do this! By trying the above method, you might just find your unconscious mind has a lot more to say than you think 😉

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE