“What the HECK am I going to write about today!?” Vanessa asks herself as she sits down, uninspired, at her dilapidated computer.  Writer’s block happens to every writer at one point or another.  The tricky part is to get past it, but hoooowwww?

I find that it helps to do a “mind dump” – just start writing out anything and everything that comes to your mind.  Keep writing and writing for two or three minutes without letting your hand stop moving or your mind stop thinking.  Mind dumping clears the mind and makes room for your creative juices to start flowing.  Plus, when you read it back, you’ll see what’s REALLY on your mind (sicko).  Maybe there’s even something in that mind dump that you can use as a jumping-off point (with your psychiatrist).

Second, don’t think of writing as such a serious and daunting task.  It’s hard to think that way if writing is your job, but it will take some of the stress off and let your mind be free, man, to think whatever the heck it wants without pressure from The Man.  Do some doodling, or mind maps to help get the brain warmed up in a fun way. That’s why I make seriously unserious cartoons.  What’s that you say?  You don’t remember what a mind map is?  Here, I made one just for you:

It’s also important to write about things that you feel strongly about.  This is the first tip I ever received with respect to stand up comedy, but it translates into most any sort of writing.  If you want the audience to have a strong reaction to your writing, it has to make you feel something too.  This again can be difficult if writing is your job and people hire you to write stuff for them.  In this case you have to do some research and see what aspects of their business, etc. you are most interested in and can get excited about.  We all know how easy it is to see right through B.S. that someone has written that they don’t really believe in themselves.  It’s pathetic and boring.  And why should others get excited about something that YOU aren’t even excited about?!  What’s the point?  Whether it’s jokes or “real work”, your energy will translate into engaging material that an audience will have a reaction to.

In this same way it helps to write about things that you are familiar with, and things that a good portion of people can relate to.  Like yoga! ….right?  If you aren’t very familiar with a topic that you want to write about, MAKE yourself familiar.  Do a little research and get some facts (there’s a new thing called The Internet that is great for this), and you’ll become a wealth of knowledge.  I wrote a joke recently about black people – I mean eHarmony!  I wrote a new joke about eHarmony, which I don’t know that much about, so I looked it up.  Turns out there isn’t that much to learn from their website unless you are willing to sign up and find YOUR match today.  But I did learn that if you DO want to sign up for eHarmony, you have to answer a 400 question survey!  Pssshhhhaw!

Writer’s block sucks nards, there’s no doubt about that.  But whatever the damn cause may be for your blocked brain, you’ll get past it….eventually.  These tips have worked for me on several occassions, and I hope they will help you.  Now get back to work!  Aimless internet surfing isn’t going to write your material for you.  I don’t even know how you found my little website, but I sure am glad you did.