Entry #6: Dealing with Writer's Block

Dealing with Writer's block

Do you ever have trouble writing assignments in the middle of writer's block? I definitely did this past weekend, and if it wasn't for the help of one of my family members, I don't know how I would have gotten past it. Now, with the school year getting closer to the end of the year, writing assignments are steadily on the rise in my classes. I had already made it through the basics of an essay, like what's a thesis and how to form a topic sentence, but now it was time for me to take what I've learned and apply it to my writing. Lately, in my English class, I've been learning how to write rhetorical analyses about various kinds of advertisements, and for one of my assignments, I needed to write a rhetorical analysis of any commercial of my choice. At first, this seemed like an easy task since I had already typed a similar prompt for two blogs. I picked the ad I wanted to write about and started on my outline with a clear idea of how I wanted my paper to go. However, not a day after I submitted my outline, my instructor messaged me about a concern she had regarding the ad I had chosen. It turns out that the ad I had chosen didn't fit one of the requirements for my assignment, which meant I needed to find a new one, and I was right back to the brainstorming phase with no idea where to start. 

Eventually, I found an interesting ad that met all the requirements, but now I had a bad case of writer's block.

What is writer's block? 

According to writing expert Mike Rose at the University of Illinois, writer's block is the "inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than a lack of basic skill and commitment" (Rose, 2006). The motivation I had at the beginning of the semester was clearly starting to wear off, and so was my commitment to finishing my papers. With writer's block, finding a lack of inspiration and having trouble articulating your ideas can cause you to have so much anxiety that your mind just goes blank, which is why I couldn't come up with anything, no matter how much I tried. 

Finding a Solution

To deal with my lack of creativity, I thought procrastination would stir up some ideas if I stepped away and cleared my head. Taking a break and stepping away for a while before proofreading allows you to start with a fresh perspective. A fresh perspective can help you spot errors in your paper more effectively (Mark 2023). Testing this strategy out did not work in my favor. Ultimately, I ended up procrastinating for three days past the due date. During the break, I scraped together enough information for an outline, and all I had left was to fill in the missing gaps. 

This part was just as difficult because, yes, I had an outline, but now I had so much information that I didn't know how to put it in my own words. Each sentence I kept coming up with either didn't have a complete idea or I had no place to put it. This entire situation was only making my anxiety and my writer's block worse. Finally, I decided to ask for help from my mom. I sat her down, played the commercial for her, and asked her what she had taken away from the commercial. Initially, my plan was to pump out as many suggestions as I could from her, but not long after showing her the commercial and my outline, a lightbulb went off. All it took was to hear my mom's approval of my claim to get the gears rolling in my head. Once my mom confirmed my theories about the ad, My anxiety was gone and I knew exactly how to connect my information together to make a coherent essay. 

Conclusion

Dealing with writer's block can be a tricky situation, as I learned over the past weekend. I'm sure there were other ways I could have handled the situation to speed up the process. In fact, other strategies a person dealing with writer's block could have tried were taking a hike, sleeping on it, freewriting yourself out of it, or denying you have it at all, are all ways to break out of it. Thankfully, I'm grateful I was able to get past my ego and reach out for help, which ultimately ended up saving me from a lot of stress due to overdue assignments building up. Maybe the next time you are stuck on what to write, you can use my experience on what NOT to write. 

Curious Adolescent, signing off

Work Cited

“10 Essential Tips on How to Improve Your Assignment.” MyAssignmentHelp Blog - Best Assignment Service Blogs, 22 Sept. 2023, myassignmenthelp.com/blog/10-top-rules-to-improve-your-assignment/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2023. 

“Writer’s Block.” Writer’s Block | University of Illinois Springfield, www.uis.edu/learning-hub/writing-resources/handouts/learning-hub/writers-block#:~:text=According%20to%20writing%20expert%20Mike,3). 

Image:Hertzberg, Karen. Writer’s Block. 2017. Beat Writer’s Block: 5 Tips for Writing Your Best, https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-beat-writers-block-2/. Accessed 2023.