As writer’s, one of the most difficult things we have to deal with is the deadly writer’s block. I’ve written many times about my personal frustrations with it, along with different tips and strategies to combat writer’s block, but today, I offer you another solution.

Automatic writing.

Traditionally used to get in contact with your spiritual side, automatic writing actually holds great value for writer’s. I’d never heard about it, until my Writer’s Craft high school teacher had us participate in a session of it at the beginning of class one day.

The process is extremely simple. Open a word document of some sort. Could be Microsoft Word, could be a simple text document – it doesn’t really matter so long as you’re about to type into it. Once your document is open and set up, turn off your computer screen. Yes, I do realize that most people own laptops and tablets instead of desktop computers, but most laptops offer a function where you can turn your screen off. And if you have a tablet (which I don’t so if I’m mistaken about this, please correct me) I’d recommend just placing something over top of the screen so you can’t see it at all.

From this point onward, you simply have to set a timer for the amount of time you want to write for, and then write.

The whole point about automatic writing is to just let the words flow. It doesn’t matter if you think you’ve made typos, or if you have no idea what to write. You just write. I’m serious… I’ve literally written “I have no idea what to write right now” and “I think I just made a spelling mistake” during different automatic writing sessions.

There’s something about just getting words onto a page that can really open up the mind from writer’s block. Because really, we only want to just start the process of getting back into the writing rhythm after a case of writer’s block. We all know that it’s never an easy fix. Automatic writing can help with that.

So there you have it – another tool to combat the terrible writer’s block. I hope it helps. It’s definitely gotten me out of a couple of writer’s block jams in the past.

Keep writing, everyone!

 

 

Teagan Berry writes books, watches sports, and reads. She started her blog initially to beat writer’s block, but it’s turned into so much more.