Greetings Everyone
This is the very first time I am writing on Hive Naija, and I hope this is not my last and I hope I could get more opportunity write more here in the future. Today my topic is about
How Do You Deal With Writers Block?
Writer's block is a condition that definitely will come to everyone, there is nothing you can do to avoid it, so like it or not you must handle it. Sometime it will go within short time, for a few days, and sometime it can last for weeks and months, and many people quit writing due to this issue.
There are many things we can do to handle writer's block, and everyone have their own way on doing it. No matter which way we choose, all start by accepting that condition. We must accept we get Writer Block, then try to embrace it, instead of struggling for no reasons.
So in this opportunity, I will share my experience on how I handle my writer's block while I am on Hive doing blogging. I hope this way could give you a concrete picture about how I do it, and it could help you or any other people who read it to develop your own way, your own recipe on how you handle this issue.
So here we go!!
CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
As we continue writing everyday on Hive (not in term of making a post everyday), we develop a habit and seek some condition that suit our habit. We will build up an environment that fit well with our habit.
For example, I tend to write many drafts during weekend, and later on weekdays I could finish a post within less than 10 minutes because I already write the most of them before. So I only need to adjust the visual and fix some parameters and tags.
For a long run, this could kill my creativity and I often get writer's block on this case. There are days that somehow I could only make 1-2 drafts and I lost everything else in my head... In normal condition, for a whole day of Sunday, I can make 6-9 posts of 1000 words, but again, sometime my brain refuses to work and I could only end up with a post for that day and one or two unfinished drafts.
To fight this off, I choose to change my conditions and environment for that activity. Recently I only inserted images, titles, outlines and signatures in my drafts. So it helps my brain not to stress out in Sunday, and giving "new" working condition during the weekdays.
There were some Sundays that I intentionally went outside, to coffee shop or my relatives houses, just to write some posts. There is a coffee shop that dislike me for sitting in their table for almost a half day, having only one cup of their cheapest coffee and they felt I stole their electricity and WIFI connection.
That's a false accusation because I knew well I picked an empty or far from crowded one, so I should not disrupt any opportunity they had in getting more visitors.
I do not know if this way can help you or not, but changing environment like this won't give you a significant boost instantly, but it might help you getting less frequency and less hard writer's block.
If you write your blog on PC, not a mobile or portable one, changing your table layout and chairs might help too. Just change your environment and you should feel a bit relief.
FREEWRITING
Sometime I do this one, free writing. If you follow my hive accounts, you should aware that sometime I make a freewriting article. Here I share you two of my Free Writing articles, one is written in Indonesian, which is my mother tongue and another one in english.
- Satu Jiwa (Bahasa Indonesia) - Akhir bulan puasa
- Free Compliments (English) - Sometime You Want To Be Alone
Free writing is like brainstorming your thought into words, pick a topic to write, then start writing and don't think too much about it. Your goal is to get the body text, seeing where your ideas go further.
There are two things you must do before it starts:
- You must set a timer, everyone is different. Mine is 10 minutes, my fingers are fast. If you are slow in typing, let say you type with 2 fingers only, then you could set it to 30 minutes. Whatever happens, when it rings, you stop or you are slowing down then full stop.
- Do not think about having a good structured article, it will be messy and sometime end up in a very bad way. Quality should not be an issue here, for me it is more like a jogging, an exercise, rather than a formal marathon run.
Once it is done or the timer is over, you might re read again and reshape, retouch, or re-anything on your post to make it a more proper one. Then post it after you think you have finished dressing the post.
Anyway, my writing here, this post, is not a free writing one. I need around 45 minutes to finish this one from scratch, making an idea then break it down to outlines.
DON'T THINK BIG AND PERFECT ALL THE TIME, BE FRIVOLOUS SOMETIME
This is the last from me, nothing wrong for being frivolous sometime. I know we want to make the best article, the best publication, or the best personal blog here, that's a great cause, but that mindset could kill your creativity because you are pressured to make the perfect thing, the great and grande words everytime.
Sometime we need to have fun, be simple, play with the simple one. Participating in small events such as phone photography, shadow hunters, or maybe participating in LEO PROMPTS is needed.
Not all posts have to be great, not all posts are meant to get massive posts. Sometime having fun and socializing in other communities are better and more useful for our soul. Of course, it doesn't mean we are free to plagiarize or ask AI to make posts for us.
I think you all can get what I try to convey with my writings here. Just be fun, don't get so serious everytime. See you next time, and feel free to leave any comment below.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post here. This post is part of Inleo March 2025 Prompts, a project organized by @leogrowth to help hivers overcome their writer's block and of course to engage some communities on Hive.
How to follow this club or program is very simple. Just pick a day or what topic today based on the calendar above, then write your own article about it. Be original, don't steal other people writings, don't use AI, and have fun with your writings!!
credit:
- Canva : free online image editor
- Thepeakstudio : wonderful hive divider