Five tips for getting over writer’s block

Got an essay? If you’re stuck, feeling helpless, don’t have any ideas… you are not alone. Thousands of high school and college students all over the world are probably having the same experience you are right now. When I wrote my first history paper in high school I was stuck for hours and I remember it as one of the most miserable times in my school career.

Later I learned how to unlock my writing potential. You can too. Yes, you.

Here are a few insights/tips I’ve come up with for getting through the difficulties of the writing process.

1. Before you get started, do two things. One is to create an environment for yourself where you can work. Put yourself into a setting where you will be productive. This is perhaps the most important tip, since your environment can influence how you think and feel profoundly. I personally work well in a room alone without distractions or even music. Other people are really productive when others are around and there’s background noise, like at a café or a bookstore. Those people are usually good at multi-tasking too. The point is, you can control your productivity and unlock your writing mind by putting yourself in the optimal situation.
2. The second thing to do before you actually write anything down is to make a writing schedule. Budget for yourself a certain amount of time that you’ll be focused exclusively on your task, with nothing else going on but writing. Give yourself a realistic amount of time in which you can get something substantial done without driving yourself crazy (if you drive yourself crazy, you won’t be able to write anyway!). I like to work in 90-minute stints, with breaks in the middle.
3. When you sit down to write and you’ve got nothing, you’re totally stuck… Two things. The first is, take a deep breath, look at your topic, look at your clean sheet of paper/screen in front of you, put your pen/pencil/fingers-to-the-keyboard and just go for it. Just write whatever comes to mind about the topic. Keep on going and going until you realize that you just jotted some valuable information. Of course, some of that information won’t be so valuable, but that’s not the point. Don’t worry about organizing the information or using the right words – that comes later. For now, just get it all out onto the paper/screen.
4. If you get stuck again, do the second stuck-tip: take a five-minute break to clear your head – make scrambled eggs, do pushups, wash the dishes, listen to your favorite song… just don’t watch TV or go on the internet, because you might get sucked in and procrastinate, which could screw up your essay writing and your self-confidence as a writer. Do something that you will feel refreshed afterwards. Then go back to your writing pad/screen and spill out some more about your topic.
5. The final tip I’ll leave you with is to organize your thoughts with an outline. You’ve jotted down a lot of info – it’s worth investing 45 minutes or so and putting together a plan for how you will present it all. An outline is like a map of your essay – it will guide you through the rest of the writing process, and will save you at the times when you feel stuck and lost. My website (mentioned below) has a free tutorial for doing an outline and a bunch of other free writing-process tutorials and tips and stuff.

Good luck!

Ami
http://helpwithyouressay.com