Confronting Writer’s Block in This Time of Turmoil

If you’re a writer, professional or amateur or even copywriter, then you know that writer’s block is real. It’s a stupefaction of your thought processes, literally, the words are stuck in the brain and can’t find the synaptic pathways to your fingers. Then throw in the coronavirus outbreak (or any other global concern that worries you), your ability to write is like the whirling, whirling of a twirling dervish. The words are flying by so fast that you can’t pull any of them together in a coherent sentence. And  just as you think you’ve managed to grab onto a few words that make some sense, then they are ripped from your grasp by the velocity and power of the dervish. Picture those words flying by like the cow in the Wizard of Oz cyclone.

In this time of coronavirus crisis (again, substitute any crisis here), writer’s block tends to be exacerbated. Just as you land on a thought or idea, the niggling worries creep in and derail your writing train of thought.

I’d like to offer seven tips on how to get beyond the crisis-driven writer’s block dilemma:

1. Deep breaths. No, really. Sounds trite but it works. Before I was self-quarantined, I would commute 30 minutes to work each morning. Before I turned on the radio or my book on tape,  I practiced some deep breathing exercises. It opened my lungs and my mind. I’m having to recreate new habits at home but it still holds true.

2. Exercise and stretching. Yes, again it sounds trite but it works. The exercise gets the blood flowing, the heart pumping, and the brain engages. The stretching just helps you to bring it all back to a more calm level of awareness. I keep an exercise band in my office for when I need to re-align my spine and my brain. And now I keep a couple of eight-pound weights right here on my countertop. When I feel myself slumping, I pick those up and do a few minutes of bicep curls, dead man lifts, tricep kickbacks, and shoulder raises. 

3. STOP! Stop watching and listening to the news, stop scrolling through FB and IG, stop buying into any panic. Just stop it. Put a stop sign on your mirror and when you get up in the morning look at that and choose to not tune in to the world’s hysteria.

4. Go for a walk. Clear your head, get some fresh air. I like to walk with friends and talk as we walk. I joke that I’m actually exercising my jaw more than anything else. And keep your social distancing.

5. Read something uplifting and positive. Find joy in the world around you. Be it Robert Frost poetry, where I find my kindred spirit, or keeping your own gratitude journal, tap into the positive. Remember that by focusing on the good things, you naturally spend less time dwelling on the bad things.

6. Scroll through your old photos. If you haven’t done it yet, write a caption or a paragraph about each photo. It will trigger memories and it will re-open those psycho-neural-muscular pathways for your brain to connect with your fingers.

7. Share joy. Do something nice for someone. Someone left a roll of toilet paper on my doorstep last night—totally made my day and made me smile. According to Dr. Marianna Pogosyan in Psychology Today “There is now neural evidence from MRI studies suggesting a link between generosity and happiness in the brain.”

Hang in there. Don’t give up, the free flow will return as will normalcy to our everyday lives.