Encountering writer’s block can be a challenging and disheartening experience. For writers, the inspiration has a tendency to waver from time to time, and sitting down to write can be excruciating. Luckily, there are numerous tips and tricks that can help get your creative juices flowing again. Gary Vorhies, a sales representative for a Canadian oil drilling company, is inspired to write poetry about the wilderness surrounding his farm, and he employs the following techniques when he finds himself getting stuck.
1. Read your favorite authors, poets, and essayists over again and borrow ideas from them. Take a concept or phrase from their writing and use it to create something new.
2.Spend a week journaling without re-reading what you’ve written. In one week, look back over your thoughts to see if there’s anything that you feel inclined to continue working with.
3. Look back at an unfinished poem, story, or essay that you wrote a great deal of time ago and revisit that writing. This could be the time to pick it back up, and you won’t have to generate anything new.
4. If you don’t belong to one already, seek out a writers group that puts out weekly writing projects. Having to regularly share work with a group of people will help keep you accountable and force you to sit down and produce a piece.
5. Write a stream of consciousness piece. If you can salvage one or two sentences or lines to use later, the exercise will have been a success.
Gary Vorhies lives a quiet life in Greybull, Wyoming.