Writer’s block can be disheartening at best.  It’s downright discouraging and can make you question your skills, your dedication, and sometimes your very sanity.  It can make you want to tear your hair out or throw away your work in progress, maybe even your entire computer.  There are so many levels: not knowing where to start, not knowing where to go next, not knowing how to end, or just plain not having an idea to work with at all.  The block is a terrible affliction that should have advocates and research groups dedicated to finding a cure.  But for now, you’re stuck with just me.

And here’s my next idea.  It’s a pick-me-up of sorts, and it goes like this: close your eyes and picture an image of the most writerly writer you can come up with.  This can be a real person, a fictional character from a book or film, or someone made up out of thin air.  Maybe they’re what you envision Jane Smiley to be in real life.  Perhaps they are like Johnny Depp in “Secret Window” or Nicolas Cage in “Adaptation.”   Maybe they speak with an accent, wear only black attire, or drink too much coffee.  They should be the embodiment of everything you think a writer should be.  Exaggerate and dress them up with as much detail as you can muster.  Get creative with this.  Be ridiculous if you want.

Here’s an example.  In my mind, my writer epitome is a tall, slender man who wears fashionable black-framed square glasses and always wears a luxurious scarf.  His hair is messy, longer, and he spends hours sitting in a brown leather chair that has creases and tears that expose the cushion stuffing beneath.  On his desk is an ancient typewriter with pearl keys (yes, pearl keys…just go with it).  He practically lives in his office which is cluttered with papers and books.  Mountains of books.  Shelves of books.  Old ones, new ones.  Books everywhere.   He’s reclusive and rather pompous, but a complete genius.

Once you have your own example, and feel free to use mine if you want, make note of every attainable feature you can steal from this image.  Then integrate these features into your own life.  In my case, I have taken the square black-framed glasses, the mountains of books, and have recently taken to wearing and collecting scarves.  If I wanted, I could go even further to try to find a typewriter or a beaten-up leather chair.

These things, borrowed from my imagination make me feel like I’m playing the part of the writer I want to be.  I’ve surrounded myself with them.  They make me feel more confident and help me get into the mindset of writing.  And now, as soon as I put those glasses on, I feel ready to start typing my heart out, and nothing can stand in my way.  When I walk around with my scarves, I feel inspired, almost as if the scarf on my person is a colorful reminder to keep thinking like a writer even if I’m not near my computer.  And to me, the books I’ve surrounded myself with are the physical representations of dreams fulfilled.  Dreams that I will soon achieve.

On the surface, all this might seem silly, but sometimes this little self pampering can be enough of a psychological kick to beat the writer’s block.  I highly recommend adopting some of the mannerisms or props from your own writer epitome image.  Live and become your vision as much as possible, even if only for a week or two.  Worse comes to worst, you can take the imaginary writer you created and flesh it out into a character sketch which, hey, is better than staring at a blank screen.