The death of writer's block

It's not necessary, so here are some ways to ditch it

This story was written for the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) Symposium. This month, the theme is DEATH.

What a potentially grim subject. I didn’t want to write about death in the sense of people or animals dying. Having had a bereavement in the last year, and one the year before that, death was the last thing I want to think about or write about. And so I went through a whole load of options, and in the end landed upon this: how to kill writer’s block. It will be, I hope, useful, and somewhat lighthearted.

And yes, I realise that I have deliberately reinterpreted the theme to suit myself but, as Casy in The Grapes of Wrath said, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

What’s that you say? Who am I to pontificate about how to deal with writer’s block? Well I think I’m qualified to say something on this matter because of the amount I write — usually:

Monday: Start the Week

Tuesday: 5 minute tip

Wednesday: letter to

Rebecca Holden

every other week

Sunday: Experiments in Style

Plus occasional posts that don’t fit into those categories (like this one), plus writing I do for two other websites, three other newsletters and a couple of magazines.

But enough of this persiflage! Let’s get on with it. Here are my methods for generating ideas and in the process relegating writer’s block to the dustbin.

1. Get some fresh air.

2. Go for a walk or a bike ride. (This, obviously, subsumes the preceding suggestion, unless the air where you live is not particularly fresh.)

3. Grab a notebook and pen, and brainstorm at least ten ideas for article titles.

4. Got a block about possible titles? Then use this title generator.

5. Give a friend a call. Maybe a nice conversation will clear the cobwebs. I don’t do this myself, because I dislike talking on the phone for ages, but I thought I’d suggest it anyway.

6. Genre is a bit of a minefield, or can be. If you usually write nonfiction, try writing fiction, or poetry. Mix it up a bit: let your hair down. Live a little!

7. Get hold of a newspaper, and read a section you don’t usually bother with. For me, that would be sport. I think taking part in sport is potentially dangerous, and thinking about it is tiring. But I have come across some absolutely brilliant sports writers who made their specialism come alive for me with their luminescent writing.

8. Go to an exhibition or an art gallery. If you think you’ll feel guilty for not writing, then just think: you’re not writing anyway, so you might as well designate this as a non-writing writing day and stop beating yourself up over it.

9. Gather together a few books that you’ve been meaning to read, find yourself a nice comfy armchair, and read them. The writing quality might inspire you, or may spark of some ideas for your own writing.

10. Go to a writing prompt website for ideas.

Bonus tip! Use an Oulipian¹ constraint, just as I’ve used here. Did you notice that each one of my suggestions begins with the letter ‘g’? I used my own variation of a constraint called a ‘tautogram’, which is where each sentence starts with the same letter. It’s surprisingly difficult to do, but it certainly gets the mental juices flowing.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and found it useful. Now the next thing is this. I’m really grateful to the nice people who pay for this newsletter, because it saves me from having to go out busking (people pay me to stop). If you’ve been wondering whether or not to contribute to the Freedman Word Factory to keep things ticking over, use the button below to give yourself a 30 day free trial. Just be aware that at the end of the trial period you’ll start to be billed automatically, so remember to cancel if you don’t wish to continue. You can cancel any time. Offer ends on 12 May 2023.

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1. Check out this article if you don’;t know about the Oulipo:

Three collections of Oulipo writing