If you’ve been diagnosed with Writer’s Block, you need to understand the symptoms and immediately apply the remedy. The disease is common among professionals who have lofty goals and expect their writing to be exemplary. They want dynamic characters in captivating plots with unexpected twists. These writers would be very good if they didn’t stare at the keyboard so much, wondering what to write. Nothing works for them, so they wait, wanting to be inspired. But inspiration doesn’t come. Not wanting to waste their time, they quit to do something else.
Waiting for inspiration is like expecting a stranger to bring gold nuggets to you.
Productive writers learn not to wait for great ideas. Like a prospector panning for gold, they generate as many bad ideas as possible, knowing that pretty soon a nugget will glisten through the rubbish. Here, it’s quantity, not quality that counts.
Writer’s Block insists on writing something from an empty mind, even though that’s obviously impossible. Therefore, the remedy is immediate acceptance of whatever is on your mind. No idea is ugly. In fact, every ugly, off-the-wall, weird idea must be seen as beautiful. List every thought. Branch out with more stupidity and then something even crazier, because the golden result is inevitable.
The more craziness you can compile, the more likely you will uncover that unexpected plot twist that really sparkles.
After writing that great scene, blog post, or devotion, you may say to yourself, “How did I ever think of that?” It’s magic only because the idea seemed to appear out of nowhere.
But actually, it’s the prospector-writer’s best means to find the gold.
