Any writer will tell you, “Yes, I have had writer’s block or… It comes and goes, like my sciatica and arthritis on rainy days.”

It doesn’t mean you’re not a serious writer, nor that you lack something. It could mean you need to carefully examine your approach to writing.

I am mentoring-coaching a young writer these days and he was having “writer’s block” so I went to some sources to find simple answers and encourage him to self-exam this this thing we call “writer’s block”

I found a great article that addressed it. The article discusses Writer’s Block defined as “the condition of being unable to think of what to write OR how to proceed with writing.”

Here were 10 Practical Tips to review concerning your writing. I found them very practical and helpful to my young writer and myself. Ginny Wiehardt, a fiction expert and the author of the article gives more information. My thoughts are in the parentheses.:

10 PRACTICAL TIPS TO OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK

1. Develop a Writing Schedule. (Hard one. I will admit it. Sure helps. And hold it sacred.)
2. Don’t be too hard on yourself. (We are our own worst critic.)
3. Think of it as a JOB and not an ART. (It becomes about the word “work” and takes the word “whim” away–I just didn’t FEEL like writing today.)
4. Take time off after you’ve finished a writing project. (Celebrate! You did it.)
5. Set deadlines and keep them. (Our phones are set up with reminders for this.)
6. Examine deep-seated issues behind your writer’s block. If any… get some help. (Talk to other writers. If it’s something serious, yes, do seek help. Likely, not your fault.)
7. Work on more than one project at a time. (I find this eases boredom, fatigues and excuses.)
8. Try Writing Exercises. (I love writing prompts to free up my mind. Try https://promptuarium.wordpress.com/ A great little recent find on the internet.)
9. Reconsider You Writing Space. (Do you have a dedicated writing space, free from distractions?)
10. Remember why you started to write in the first place. (Go back to the beginning. Re-evaluate.)

From http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/writingroadblocks/tp/block.htm

Another complication–my attitude. I control this. I answer for it. No one else does. Enough on that one.

Another complication–circumstances beyond my control. Things happen. Sometimes, surrendering to them is easier on us and those around us. After that, “get back to the desk” as soon as you can. Don’t let the interruption cheat you of your work. So we stay up a little later, lose a little sleep, or get up a little earlier to work. We can and we will see work has a payout–you did it.

~And now, for some inspirational quotes on writing~

“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.”
—Anonymous

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”
—Richard Bach

“It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer.”
—Gerald Brenan

“If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become wonderful. To become the best writer you can possibly be.”
—Theodora Goss

(all quotes form http://writersrelief.com/  A good site. Why not join their mailing list.)

Okay, let’s get back to the desk! May the story you WRITE out today, change someone. I KNOW it can!

Melea