March 2004

When thinking of writing, what comes to mind? Pens, Paper, typewriters, computers, research, and many other things. Yet what happens when you have all of the supplies needed and you get ready to sit, putting these words to the paper, and nothing happens? You sit there and sit there. Maybe you try to find a new position, or maybe new scenery . . . but nothing seems to work.

The more you stare at the blank paper and wonder if maybe you were not cut out for this business after all. Maybe you wonder if you are one of the unfortunate ones who do not have any real words to put to the paper, that you have the ideas, but have no business writing. The chances of this are very slim. What is happening is you have a good case of "writers’ block."

How do you solve it though? What can you do to relieve the agony of not being able to formulate those words you have in your mind to the paper? You can do many things. If you look on the internet, you can find many different technical techniques that work . . . the web, clustering, The snowflake, etc. . . but are these techniques really the right ones for you?

How do you know which one you will benefit from the most? One solution is that you can try each individually, but this can be frustrating, and the same technique may not work the same the next time you need it.

A couple of the techniques that I have used in the past are listed below. These have proven successful for me. You are welcome to try these, or search for your own way to unlock the bars that are keeping the words locked away.

Technique One: One of the best places to be to write is outside. Just getting away from the same four walls can allow the words to come in a fresh new way, like the breeze blowing away the fog. While being outside, you can observe how people move and speak, how nature around you works in harmony with each other. Maybe you see a bee buzzing from flower to flower, or a squirrel scampering up a tree. Wouldn’t you be able to use these observations in your writing? In a way, being outside while writing can be an interactive research tool to be put to use during the writing process.

Technique Two: It may seem strange, but reading other people’s work can be a wonderful tool to unlocking your own words. Now I am not saying to plagiarize or to use that writer’s specific technique, but you can find ideas and your own technique just by observing other people’s writing styles, their use of words. It is up to you to be able to put this knowledge to use to bring your own style to the front.

The search for the perfect way to write does not only come from within your mind, but it comes from your environment. As always, good luck in your pursuit of writing and may the words never cease to flow for you.