From Edie: Struggling with writer’s block? Ginny Cruz helps writers discover why writing badly on purpose can help perfectionist writers break creative paralysis, regain momentum, and finally get words flowing again.
How to Cure Writer’s Block: Why Writing Badly on Purpose Actually Works
by Ginny Cruz
Writer’s block is real. If you have yet to experience it, consider yourself fortunate. While there are many possible causes, this article will focus on perfectionism and how to overcome its effect on our writing productivity.
What is Perfectionism?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one definition of perfectionism is a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable. In other words, the tendency to set impossibly high standards for oneself. It’s as if a person establishes for themselves a dogmatic set of rules they must meet to be deemed acceptable in their own eyes.
I admit perfectionism hits me now and then. Having high performance standards is one of my traits, and maybe it’s yours. While there’s nothing wrong with aiming for your best work, we can lose our creative flow when we stay in our own heads and stop ourselves from writing with the playfulness and reckless abandon of a child.
Overcoming Perfectionism
One benefit of my career in pediatric physical therapy was playing with young children daily. Yes, we were working on difficult physical therapy goals, such as crawling, sitting, or walking, but play was incorporated into each activity. And no, play is not merely entertainment for kids.
Play is how children learn, and most of them love the messiness of creative endeavors. For example, coloring is a whole lot more fun when you don’t care about the lines. Stacking blocks and making new towers when your old ones tumble is a lovely way to pass the time if you haven’t ruined it for yourself by insisting the tower has to be... well, perfect.
One easy way for writers to overcome perfectionism is to write like a child. Write messily on purpose. Make mistakes intentionally. Write nonsense. Who cares? Just let loose.
The Lie of “Getting It Right the First Time”
Somewhere along the way, we start believing that good writing should come out clean and without error on the first try. But that’s not true, even for professional writers. That’s why there are editors stacked on top of editors.
And yet, we perfectionists expect to write a perfect manuscript on our first try.
No wonder we freeze.
Permission to Be Messy
If you’re suffering from writer’s block, permit yourself to write without inhibition. Place those commas where you want them to be, and at least for the first draft, go ahead and ramble.
Put all those half-baked ideas down and include all your favorite repeated words and phrases. Just let the words flow.
The Secret to Good Writing
It came as a shock to me, I admit. But professional writers, while they are amazing wordsmiths, do not write perfectly on the first try. They’ve come to understand that writing is an activity that reveals the final product.
You must write, rewrite, and rewrite again, if necessary, until the message is as clear as possible. Writing a piece ready for publication is similar to running words through a sieve, until only the best ones remain.
A Step-by-Step Activity to Unblock Your Words
Try this:
- Set a timer for ten minutes.
- Open a blank page.
- And give yourself this one rule: You are not allowed to stop until the timer rings.
Write, write, write nonstop until the timer goes off. Do not stop to reword, repair, or judge any of it. Continue writing with the freedom of a toddler running down the sidewalk after being buckled into a car seat for four hours. Wriiiiiite!
Still not convinced because the whole process feels wrong? Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
What are some ways you get your writing flowing again?
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