How I Manage "Writers' Block"

Are you one of those people who feel you cannot "write"?  Ideas may come to you but somehow you stop cold when you have to put it down on paper or on screen? Well, here's a very simple solution that I use a lot:  Write WHATEVER that comes to your mind!

I rarely use caps in my writing but this time round, I just have to because I cannot emphasize the word "whatever" more strongly than in caps!  Anyone who can put together a sentence should be able to do that, right?  In fact, if you can talk, or at least talk to yourself, you can write.  It's as simple as that.

Forget about grammatical accuracy, coherence of ideas, long-windedness, repetition of ideas -- these are but small obstacles that can be rectified later.  

The important thing is: Get your thoughts down in word form first.  In fact, resist re-reading what you have written beyond the current sentence.  Just let your words come to you.  Talk to yourself and you will be able to pen down at least a few paragraphs for a start.

I used to suffer the same fate.  I would wake up telling myself I want to complete a blog post or article but by the end of the day, I panicked, started to drum out some introduction, only to find myself going back to edit it because it just doesn't seem enticing enough.  And guess what, I ended up with lots of unfinished articles or drafts, which technically isn't true because I never really got around to completing them in the end!  

It helps too that I started tracking my time after I read the book "168 hours - You Have More Time Than You Think" which I blogged about previously.  Seeing the seconds and minutes ticking away, I felt impelled to type out something - in fact anything - to justify the time I have used.

The result:  I have improved my writing output by leaps and bounds. I wrote in a month what I used to write in half a year!  The quality isn't so bad either, considering the lesser time to output.  Again, don't kill yourself trying to write the perfect script. This is after all not an English exam.  

I think the thought that kept me going ultimately was: " I have a voice, and I want it heard!"   But how can other people know what I want to say unless I put it down in writing?

So there, just keep writing.