Writer’s Block in the Fast-Paced Advertising World — and How to Get Rid of it.
(Note: This article is going to be more personalized than my other articles. The reason being I wanted to add my experience and perspective on the topic. Also, not a lot of conclusive scientific research has been done on this phenomenon.)
If you are a writer working in advertising you are familiar with the dreaded words “writers block”. In this fast-paced digital market, these words are spoken in hushed tones in street corners or with a mournful expression to only the closest colleagues. Advertising is a competitive field, if you can’t write when you are supposed to — you fall behind. It’s a sad, unhealthy fact.
Being a writer myself, and having many writer colleagues in this field, I can assure you this — we have all been there.
The situation is very familiar — you sit in front of your laptop…and just can’t write. The deadline is creeping closer minute by minute. You suddenly decide to start writing and write a sentence, again and again and again. It’s not good enough. You get frustrated at yourself and at the world. You try to do some other work, to continue being productive, but you can’t. Not with your regular finesse. Hours pass with the nagging thought at the back of your mind - you still have that draft to complete. This is often followed by overthinking — “What if I am not good enough?” “What if they fire me?” “I am a terrible writer” “I have no skills” “I am going to ruin my life” — STOP. Just stop and breathe.
This has happened to me so many times I lost count. Sometimes, it is the result of excess research, and sometimes there is no reason. The frustration grows and leads to unnecessary feelings and actions. I have often googled the famous “How to get rid of writer’s block” phrase; not fully accepting yet that what I face is an actual block (something real) and not something in my head. It is not a measure on my skill.
After the first many times, I started following a few things that helped me get back to my creative normal. These are tried and tested methods which work for me but may not work for you. But hey, when in the block, one tries anything with the hope that it may work. And I hope it will guide you towards your pattern to get rid of the dreaded block.
- Acceptance: Acceptance is the first step to change. The very first thing you need to do is accept you have a problem which is annoying but very common. There is nothing wrong with you personally. You have the same skill set level and your writing is still well liked. You still have a job and you are not going to lose it. This is something that happens to all writers. The symptoms are the inability to write anything worthwhile without any tangible reason. Other symptoms include uneasiness, frustration, mild depression and anxiety. Accept that and work to find a solution.
- Taking a Walk works: Taking a long walk outside, away from your workstation usually helps getting rid of the block. Step out, decide to take a walk for an hour and then do it. Visit the streets you like. I would personally suggest going somewhere where you can be close to nature like a garden or a park. Breathe deeply — inhale the worry and distress and exhale peace and calm. I have also once or twice listened to podcasts while taking a walk. It works in making me feel still productive without actually doing any ‘office-related’ work.
- Cleaning helps: This is one of the things I tend to do pretty naturally when I get frustrated. I start by cleaning my desk and rearranging everything I need on it. Then I clean the room and if that doesn’t push me to write, I clean my entire house. The repetitive motion in cleaning and the visible result helps me calm down and get into the mindset needed for writing. When I get a block, I feel like my mind is cluttered with too many thoughts. I placed all these thoughts on the objects while cleaning. The unnecessary self deprecating thoughts become the dust which I wipe clean, the thoughts which need organizing become the books on my shelf and so on.
- Talk to a friend: A work friend. Or at least someone who understands your work. Talking about your project / draft, throwing around ideas helps you get a clear map of what you need to work on and may even result in an idea that breaks the writer’s block. This tends to work especially well for extroverts and people who flourish in a social situation. It only worked for me once. So call a friend, get together in a café and work as a group.
- Music may just save your day: This also worked for me just this once, but it worked on a particularly vicious block so I thought I should mention it. Music did indeed save my day. Classic rock to be more specific. I basically listened to Back in Black by AC/DC on loop. It worked after the 15th time.
- Vigorous Exercise: Acts like a reboot. This isn’t recommended if you don’t exercise regularly. Because then it’ll just tire you out. For those who do exercise regularly, vigorous exercise to break the block works as one of the best methods.
- Meditation: I wasn’t someone who believed meditation works, until I was. A friend introduced me to guided meditation by Headspace. It helps me calm down and obtain focus on the things I need. Meditation clears my mind such that I am able to look at my problems from a third person point of view. Often, the reason I have a writer’s block is I am thinking about something else at the back of my mind. That doesn’t help my writing. Meditation helps me sort out that mess and then look at writing from a fresh perspective. There are multiple types of meditation you can try. Dynamic Meditation combines ‘rigorous exercise’ with ‘meditation’ and it is effective too.
- Last minute panic: Panic is one of the most effective motivators. This isn’t recommended as it does not guarantee the best results. I am not going to elaborate on this one as I am pretty sure everyone reading this is familiar with this territory. Again — not recommended.
- Here’s what works the best for me: This is slightly out of the box. There is no evidence other than my own experience that this technique works. I bore myself out of the writer’s block. Not kidding. I have a list of the things that I find most boring — a complex university level lecture on math, sorting through my mail, football or cricket analysis, paperwork etc. This works wonders. Half an hour to an hour of these activities and I am completely over the block I had. It is one of the most effective resets for this situation.
Hope this article helped, let me know what works for you. Hope you get over your block soon!
