Getting Through Writer's Block (I'm STILL Trying to Write a Personal Statement)

I am an English professor and I still get writer's block. Thing that works for me? Scrubbing a bathroom really well...as in toothbrush for grout.....works every time for me and then, yeah, I have a clean bathroom too.....

When I am blocked, I freewrite. Remember when the teacher would say write whatever comes to mind, even if you start with ..".I dont know what to write, this crazy lady is making me do this." lol just keep writing until it starts to get you invigorated and the words are coming into your head faster than you can write them down. You can also free write with a topic - "writing my essay is so hard because I don't know what to say, it has to be ...." You will be suprised what's on the paper when you're done. It can give you direction, even if you just find one jewel in all the bleeding ink.

K, so awhile back I was watching a cooking show, my weakness, can't even remember WHO was cooking on it now. But they were making Chicken and dumplings, like boiling the whole chicken in a pot of water with veggies, herbs and such, to make the stock first.

Holy Cow, ok it was Julia Child, on the Cooking Channel then every day at 2 pm! So cool.

Ok, anyway, she explained how you need to turn off the heat and let the pot sit still for a half hour or so, then all the fat and yucky stuff floats to and stays on the top.

So that you can Skim The Scum.

Skim THe Scum.

Well, I make my own chicken stock all the time, and yeah I Skim The Scum Off The Top, but I never thought about THAT particular way of describing it.

So then my mind WANDERED and I started to think about how "You Gotta Skim The Scum Off The Top Before You Do Anything Else" is so very DEEP AND MEANINGFUL and applicable in SOOOOO many different facets of life. And continued to think of phrases using COOKING as the metaphor everytime and had AMAZING FANTASTIC BRILLIANT thoughts for at least a few days!

Anyway, the point is.....

Inspiration comes in the MOST unlikely places and the BEST way to find it (provided you need to find it), is to stop LOOKING for it and live your life. For example, watch a cooking show, or something to that effect.

:)

Can you post a sample? I am great at taking normal and personalizing. :)

I believe the term bean counter was included in my masters admission essay. Granted I had a crazy high GPA and GMAT score so they may have taken me in spite of my essay and not because of it. :p

I love your writing! You are very eloquent. I think you are trying too hard. Like Cathy said, write from the heart then go back and edit. You are over thinking it. Trying to pin yourself down to 500 words is difficult.
Write out the long response. You might be surprised that is it not as long as what you thought and have just enough.
You can do it!!!!
Good Luck!!
Blessings!
D.

I agree with Cathy P. Walk away from the scene. Go do something completely unrelated. If necessary, drive to a new or stimulating environment.

The "Snoopy" way of writing--staring in front of a computer (well, in his case, typewriter)--does no good!!

Oh, and good luck!

Back when I had to write papers, I never could start at the beginning. I would know kind of what I wanted to say and would just start writing the body. Once I started writing, everything else would start to fall into place and I would get an idea of how I wanted to organize it, as well as introduce my topic and form a conclusion.

So my advice is to just start writing something, anything, and see what happens. Good luck!

Go and take a walk or listen to music to break the writer's block. Write from the heart, let it flow, and edit later. I bet it will be brilliant!!! Good luck.