Writer’s Block: What It Is, Plus 9 Ways to Crush It as Composer
In today's issue, you'll learn what Writer's Block is and nine strategies to crush it to create music whenever you write a new track.
After composing music for over 20 years and 1000s of written, produced, and published tracks, I still can remember what it feels like to stare at the blank screen, not knowing what to compose.
Especially in high-pressure situations, where you have only a couple of hours to come up with a 60-second hybrid orchestral track for a prominent car manufacturer, this can be super stressful.
The nine strategies I am showing you here have proved to crush Writer's Block in my business, and you can use a combination of them or pick the one that feels right for you whenever you think a blockade creeps up on you.
9 Strategies to Defeat Writer's Block:
Take a break from writing
Work on a different writing project
Keep writing
Read a book or watch a movie
Revise or reread current work or skip ahead
Discuss ideas with others
Exercise
Have a coffee or snack.
Meditate
What is Writer's Block?
Writer's Block can have a psychological, motivational, or cognitive cause. It doesn't matter what the reason is. The outcome for every music creator can be widely different.
For some, solid emotions or stress can be the main factor in not being able to bring a good composition together. For others, procrastination or performance pressure can be a total creativity killer.
But also, lousy planning or perfectionism can be the primary reasons creative entrepreneurs cannot jot something down.
How I learned to deal with Writer's Block
Looking back, I can vividly remember the anxiety around a composition I had to create in 1 night. It was an orchestral arrangement for an insurance commercial. And it was one of my first assignments for the company I worked for.
It was even more challenging because I had just switched from Cubase to Logic. (never again will I change 🤪)
So there were several factors at play. The most significant influence on my blockage was performance pressure and perfectionism. I could have been more fluent in orchestral composition and needed more experience or rapport with the music production company.
Of course, I had more than the basic music production skills necessary for succeeding and getting over Writer's Block.
But in this case, the determining block factors were much more substantial. I tried for several hours until the early morning of delivery to make that track work.
Crickets, nada, not a single note was good enough. And I got more anxious every minute I took to get anything done.
The Solution
Finally, at 3 am, the day of delivery, I decided to call it a day and went home, distressed, unsatisfied, and of course, knowing that I had to come back to the studio at 6 to "finish" what I started.
And a marvelous thing happened. Everything I had done the night before was crap. So I deleted everything and started from scratch. I sat down, and within only 1 hour, I was done.
Composed, produced, and ready to mix and deliver.
That morning was the first time I learned how to defeat Writer's Block, and the strategy still works. And it will work for you.
Here are the 9 strategies you can use to defeat Writer's Block in any situation.
1. Take a break from composing
As you can see in the example above, that worked well for me. I suggest, though, to be very sensitive and not to wait as long as I did to call it a day. If I had gone home sooner, the outcome would have been the same. No regrets, but you can make it better.
2. Work on a different project
If you're a bit like me, you probably take on too many projects or give yourself things to do in your business. That can be a good thing when it comes to getting rid of Writer's Block for sure. Sometimes it just happens that you feel drained, and inspiration doesn't come as easy. Switch context, work on a different project for a while, and come back later to finish the first project.
3. Keep writing
I talked about this in-depth here. It would help if you tricked your brain into thinking that what you're about to do is easy and short. Doing this and giving it 2 minutes typically solves the problem.
4. Listen to a soundtrack or watch a movie
Listening to a soundtrack or watching a movie is only sometimes possible, especially when under time pressure. But the basic principle is to get yourself thinking about something else that is inspiring, meaningful, and audacious.
5. Revise or re-listen current work or skip ahead
In some longer form projects for Imagefilms (15 minutes of music plus), this helped me tremendously. I started with a good melody and arrangement, but after 2-3 minutes, I just ran out of ideas for making it still enticing. So I copied the part I had written until I reached the 15-minute mark and then started revising everything from that foundation.
6. Discuss ideas with others
That's a great way to get your creative juices flowing. Find yourself an accountability buddy and share your work-in-progress track with them. To come into a new flow, their different perspective and fresh ears will bring you. Collaboration is a miraculous thing.
7. Exercise
A walk or some higher-intensity workout –– it doesn't matter. We're all sitting most of the time, and getting our blood flowing faster and getting our heart rate up shifts our focus and will help us re-focus on the task ahead.
8. Eat or drink something, like a coffee or snack.
I love coffee and drink a lot. So that's why I need more than coffee alone for me. But when I combine it with a quick chat with my wife or just sitting in the sun for a couple of minutes, that revives my creative muscles very well.
9. Meditate
When I don't have any idea, I love to sit down, read the Bible, and pray. That always gives me the best ideas to bring something to the page and new motivation to tenaciously struggle through the hard part of being a music creator.
Try it out for yourself
Whether you're stressed by circumstances or don't work well under pressure, Writer's Block is a real issue for most of us. Having some strategies to defeat it is crucial to create music consistently. Just pick and choose a couple or all from the list above and train yourself to be very sensitive to feel when the blockade creeps up on you. The earlier you catch it, the earlier you can do what you do best, write music.
See you again next week!
Whenever you're ready I can help you grow your creative business.
Book a time with me here!⬇️⬇️⬇️
