Five ways to combat writer's block

I know everyone deals with writer’s block differently, but I just wanted to share five ways I combat writer’s block and what helps me get back onto my writing journey. Some might be obvious, some may not work for you, but hopefully some of these strategies might be able to get you out of a writing lull.

 Walking

Most of my narratives are set in nature or have an element of nature-writing within them. Sometimes I find myself repeating similar phrases or descriptions as I spiral into writer’s block. I find going on a long walk helps with this. It clears my head, provides me with opportunity to really immerse myself in nature and notice things I perhaps hadn’t noticed before and therefore provides me with inspiration for my writing.

Reading

This is probably one of the more obvious strategies- be inspired by your most loved books. The books that made you want to write to begin with. What was it about the narrative, the characters, the imagery that captivated you in the first place? How might you recreate some of this magic in your own? I love to write chilling gothic stories for children and teenagers, and I am often inspired by Roald Dahl’s short stories but also good old Poe. If I am struggling with what to write, I usually take a break, read a couple of short stories, jot down what grabbed me and why, and use this to inspire my writing.

Board Games

I won’t go into too much detail about this as I have written about some of my favourite bookish games in my last blog post, but board games are a nice break when I am getting frustrated with my writing. They allow me to clear my head and focus on something else for a little while, but also some games (such as the ones I mentioned in my last blog post) actually encourage creativity, storytelling and imagination. I often find that after a game or two I am feeling refocused and ready to write again.

 Take a bath

I often get my best ideas in the bath (or sometimes the shower). Bath time is the perfect opportunity to mull over some of my trickier plot issues amongst all the bubbles… although sometimes I find that a lot of the solutions end up being water-based.

  Improving my writing space

Sometimes I find the biggest barrier to my writing is the space I am working in. If the space feels cluttered and unproductive, my mind feels cluttered and unproductive. Whenever I start a new draft, I spend a day clearing out my writing my space, tidying and organising. I also like to make it a pleasant environment to work in and often adorn the area with flowers, plants, candles and motivational messages to make myself feel motivated. I make sure I let as much light as I possibly can in and will often listen to ASMR rooms of seasonal outdoor spaces to allow for some background noise that isn’t too distracting.

So, there are five ways I try and combat the troublesome writer’s block, let me know what you do to keep yourself inspired and writing 😊