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6 Novel Tips for Writers to Beat Creative Crisis

By Estelle Liotard

Unlike most typical jobs, the job of a writer can be quite tricky. There should be a certain mood or setting for the writer to express his best ideas and find that inner string to guide him through the process of creativity. It often happens that writers come across the phenomenon called the writer's block. This type of creative crisis can come out of nowhere and simply prevent you from reaching that creative point.

Luckily, there are strategies you can use to beat a creative crisis and get one with your writing. If you want to learn more about it, just keep reading.

Here are 6 novel tips for writers to beat their creative crisis.

1. Awaken Your Body

Writer’s block happens for a number of reasons. One of the reasons might be that we feel very passive on the inside and don’t feel like we have the energy to do anything.

This mostly happens when you’ve spent a lot of time inside your house or apartment, and haven’t moved much in a couple of days.

To get things going and start feeling inspired to write again, you have to get your blood flowing:

go for a run
ride your bike
hit the gym
take your dog to the park and actively play with him

Try running, jumping, and moving around as much as you can. Exercise will activate your entire body, including your mind.

When you get back, you’ll feel much more ready to start writing.

2. Write Something Terrible

Sometimes it happens that a writer’s block comes from our laziness and lack of will to work this day. But, our deadlines won’t go away and the work has to be done.

This is why you can try the following technique:

don’t allow yourself to get up from your computer
give yourself a mini deadline; for example, tell yourself you have to write 300 words in 15 minutes
write anything, regardless of how terrible it may seem at first

This process will help you beat the lazy factor, and make yourself do the work.

Once you realize there are no excuses, you’ll find a way to activate all your creative side.

3. Walk Away

If you're sitting in front of your screen and staring at it for the last half an hour, it's time that you try something different.

Try walking away:

close your laptop
stop thinking about your work
go somewhere far from your office

Avoid thinking about your work and your deadline and do anything else you feel like doing. Meet up with a friend, grab some ice-cream, or watch an episode of your favorite TV show.

After a couple of hours, get back to work, determined to write more and better than ever. This technique might get you going and help you get over the creative crisis.

4. Change Your Environment

You may not realize it, but the environment in which you’re working plays an important role in the creative process that you’re going through.

If you’re working at home or you’re sick of looking at your office, you could try changing the environment:

pack your laptop
go outside
walk or drive around until you find a spot you may like
sit in a coffee shop, or a park bench, by the river…
find a place that’s different from the original setting you were in

A change like this will be very effective and you’ll find it easier to focus on your work.

5. Small Pleasures

When times are hard and you feel like you’re drained up, you need to think about yourself. Sometimes the writer’s block comes as the result of being overwhelmed with work and feeling like you've pushed yourself too hard.

If that’s the case with you, you need to take a small step back.

Try giving yourself a small pleasure that might lift your spirit and inspire you to keep on going:

take a long, warm bath
go get a beauty treatment
eat your favorite meal
eat a ton of chocolate

Find a way to make yourself feel better, and you’ll see your creativity will be restored quickly. You know yourself best so make sure you do something you’ll truly enjoy.

6. Listen to Music

Music has some sort of healing powers and this might just be the case for using them. When you're down, uninspired, and mentally tired, you can try using music as a cure.

Here’s what you should do:

find some music you truly enjoy listening to
find a comfortable spot
close your eyes and listen
if you feel like it, dance around to your favorite sounds

This little musical pause will be a great way to recharge your batteries and get back to work. It will energize you both physically and mentally, and even take some stress away.

Make sure you try it out and see what happens.

Final Thoughts

There are numerous reasons why you might be feeling unable to write anything good, or anything at all for that matter. The important thing is that you don’t sit in front of your TV waiting for the crisis to go away, but rather do something about it. You always have to find a way to go forward.

The list above provides practical tips on how to get inspired and active again. Try them out to see which one works the best for you. You’ll be happy to see how easy it can be to beat your creative crisis.

Estelle Liotard is a creative content writer who feels the power of the written word should not be underestimated. She works as a freelance blogger, and as a writer for Classy Essay and IsAccurate. She covers a wide variety of topics, but primarily focuses on creative thinking, writing, and sharing your ideas with the rest of the world.