1 / 12

Writer’s Block

Writer’s Block. Melissa McMullin, Psy.D. MCAPS. Diagnose Your Block. No Ideas Too Many Ideas Can’t Get Started Outline Black hole Stuck in the Middle Bored/Stressed Loudmouth Inner-Critic. No Ideas. Do you understand the assignment? Find your inspiration:

woods
Download Presentation

Writer’s Block

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Writer’s Block Melissa McMullin, Psy.D. MCAPS

  2. Diagnose Your Block • No Ideas • Too Many Ideas • Can’t Get Started • Outline Black hole • Stuck in the Middle • Bored/Stressed • Loudmouth Inner-Critic

  3. No Ideas • Do you understand the assignment? • Find your inspiration: • What do you connect in the material? • What would you like to learn? • Rewrite the prompt for the assignment • Group brainstorm

  4. Finding Ideas • Instructor • Textbook or other assigned readings • Other students in class • Professional journals or popular magazines • Relate it to your major • Consider past experiences • Learn more about your beliefs

  5. Too Many Ideas • List them • Review & Consider: • How do your ideas relate to one another? • What type of assignment is this? • Length of the paper? • Consolidate your ideas (if warranted) • What will your topic do for you?

  6. Can’t Get Started • Write anything! • Write badly • Write for just 15 minutes • Write the smallest conceivable portion of your paper • Reward yourself for writing • Make a writing date with yourself

  7. Outline Black hole • Symptoms: • Your mind is a jumble of thoughts • You’ve written portions of the paper, but don’t know where you are going with it • Step away from the computer! • Mind map • Strategically brainstorm • Keep It Simple and Small (K.I.S.S.)

  8. Outlining Techniques • Mindmapping/Clustering • Spatially relate main concept to sub-concepts to examples/support • Hierarchy • Main idea • Sub-points • Examples • Facts • Statistics • Listing • List ideas then organize by color coating and other markers.

  9. Stuck in the Middle • Work backwards • Revisit your outline • Write anything • Rearrange the building blocks

  10. Bored and/or Stressed • Revitalize • Assess your self-care • Assess your timeline • Exercise • Stretch and/or jump • Talk it out • Breathe • Eat “brain food” • Revisit your topic • Check in with your critic

  11. Loud-Mouth Inner Critic • Entertain your critic and write down what he or she says. • Evaluate the truth of the critical statements. • Challenge thought associations: • “If this paper sucks, then I am a failure.” • Reframe the thought (s) • Challenge your critic with hard facts. • Re-assign your critic to editor.

  12. Practicing Reframing Your Thoughts • Challenge your thoughts: • What is the evidence that the thought(s) is/are true? Not true? • Is there an alternative explanation? • What’s the worst that could happen? • Could I live through it? • What’s the best that can happen? • What’s the most realistic outcome? • What are the consequences of adhering to the distorted thinking? • What would happen if I changed my thinking? • If (friend’s name) were in this situation what would I tell him/her?

More Related