Writer's block

Not being able to produce text or somehow struggling with the process of writing is something everyone who is literate has most likely experienced at some point in their life. Seeing as how my current strategy of writing is to produce a small amount of text every day instead of taking breaks and then writing for longer periods of time, I would dare to say that there are two types of blocks a writer can suffer from.

The first type is a total block which is usually short-term or very temporary. Typically, one would not be able to write at all during a period of total block because of a lack of motivation or ideas. This can very easily lead to procrastination, too. Alternatively, my theory goes that procrastination can lead to a total writer's block as well.

The second kind of a block is one in which the problem is more chronic. One may be able to write and come up with ideas as before, but the ideas and inspiration tend to be of lackluster nature. There is a saying that a good writer can tell when he is writing good text and when he is not writing as good text as before – or even when the text is outright bad. Being able to tell that the finished product is not as good as the writer is used to is often accompanied with this kind of writer's block.

Whereas a total block is something I myself have yet to experience, lately I have been suffering from a prolonged block of the second kind. I still can and do write daily, but the spark is gone, and I am afraid that the text itself is not as good as it a while ago still used to be. I know that the trick here is to regain the motivation and come up with more good ideas of what to write about, but that is also the challenge that lies in writing. Ergo, it is easier said than done.

As I am nearing the last stories of my second book, I know will not be quitting the project. Instead, the challenge of writing has now taken a turn for struggling to come up with even better text than before. It is very much like anything else you do in life as well, not just in writing. Identify your current goals and challenges surrounding those goals, and attempt to overcome the challenges. Never quit, but get better instead.