So you have the time and you have the motivation to write but no words are coming out? It’s ok, I’ve been there. A lot. And I really do mean A LOT. It can be frustrating and depressing and it almost always leads to procrastination, abandoned projects and giant headaches. Ugh. What a waste.

The most common (and annoying) advice from writers and bloggers the world over seems to be: “If you can’t write, just write.” Sounds like an obscure proverb that goes around in circles doesn’t it? It’s like someone saying to you “hey, what will be will be” or “don’t worry, it’s always in the last place you look.” Both statements mean well yet don’t come across as very helpful. But when you think about the concept of writing when you can’t  write, and I mean really think about it, it’s actually pretty good advice.

Stuck on a masterpiece because you’re waiting on perfection? Pick up that pen, or laptop, or ipad… or whatever other nifty piece of technology you have handy and write some nonsense to power through the writer’s block. It could be as simple as writing a random sentence such as “Write damn you, write” she growled before throwing the pen across the room and staring at the page glumly… It doesn’t matter what you write. It could be absolute crap or pure gold. Either way, by the end of the exercise you may have stumbled onto some pretty cool ideas or at the very least kept your motivation and creativity churning away.

I remember a teacher once saying that before you can write well you need to be able to write terribly (or something to that effect). She then gave us the task of writing the worst poem we could come up with. I loved it. It gave us something to work with and it took the pressure off. To develop your writing skills you need to give yourself freedom to make mistakes and grow. If you are always trying to write a finished piece straight off the bat you might just be setting yourself up for failure before you’ve even started. Just write. If it’s rubbish re-draft or re-write it from scratch. Who cares? Just write something. Even if you end up covering your computer with sticky notes filled with random messages from yourself (complete with smiley faces and love hearts) hey, it’s a start.

#mustremembertofollowthisadvice #noreally #omgstopwiththehashtagstara #okonemore