Rev Bill

I have been down with the flu this week — but I am feeling better today so I am going to try to get some work done.

I found this great article from Scott Young about how to handle writer’s block. As a minister, I fight writer’s block periodically in writing sermons, studies, articles, and many other things I write — not to mention what I post on this blog. Young writes that there are 2 stages to creativity — the ideas stage (what he calls the creation stage) and the writing (what he calls the destruction) stage. Sometimes we get “blocks” in each of these stages — or “blocks” in getting ideas from the creation to the destruction stage. Here’s what Young suggests:

1. Plan a fixed-size brainstorming list. Pick a number to form your base of ideas. I usually do 10-30 when brainstorming, but you can do up to 100. Until you fill this list, don’t allow yourself to refine or act on any of the ideas. This activity forces you to focus only on generating ideas instead of perfecting them.
2. Forced followup on at least one idea. Once you’ve generated an overabundant list, commit that you will start working on at least one of these ideas. Even if the idea won’t be suitable, this step forces you to organize your current ideas. Commit to followup on an idea for a minimum amount of time.
3. If the ideas won’t work, backup and restart. I’ve found that this stage is relatively rare. If you generate a large list of alternatives and commit long enough to followup on one idea, restarting the process isn’t usually necessary. But even if you do need to restart, separating the activities can be much faster than trying to juggle both tasks at the same time.

Getting ideas — then getting them on paper — is not an easy task. You can read the entire post from Young here.

What are some of your ideas on overcoming writers block?

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