Overcoming writer's block

Writer’s Block. A term no one likes. That dry state where ideas vanish and words refuse to appear.

Writer’s Block - A term no one likes, and almost all of us experience it! That strange state where words dry up, ideas stop coming, and every blank page with a blink of that cursor feels intimidating.

It’s been months since I've been carrying this quiet guilt. The guilt of not writing. Every week, I told myself, “I’ll start next week.” And every week, I didn’t. It became too normal. Then this morning, I finally decided to do something. I opened the ed

itor with a clear intent: write something today.

Guess what? Nothing came out. Not a word. I kept staring at the blank page just to realise why I had been procrastinating for months. I was avoiding the discomfort of having nothing to say.

But since I had forced myself to write something today, I thought, why not write on Writer’s block!

Why Writing Became So Hard These Days

I was curiously thinking, how did this block appear? I was quite consistent in writing. I remember proudly writing every single week for 21 weeks straight, and consistency is something I usually brag about! It’s part of how I define myself. But for some reason, writing became that hard pill to swallow.

After thinking about this, I realised there might be two big reasons!

Game of Input/Output

Writing doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s not magic. It is a reflection of what you absorb. Books, articles, conversations, videos, even random observations from daily life. Without enough input, your brain has nothing to process, remix, and transform into ideas.

This year, I promised myself I’d finish 10 books. So far, I’ve managed only three. Not because I lost interest, but because life got busier and finding long stretches of time to read became harder. I also did not consume any other form of content, social media, videos, or anything! No input to mind, and I could not think of any ideas.

But how can we change this? What is the smallest step I can take? That’s when I started reading one or two articles a day. Short, manageable. And to my surprise, even this small thing made a difference. Suddenly, new thoughts started forming, and writing felt less overwhelming.

AI (How can I NOT talk about AI)

English isn’t my first language, so I often second-guess my phrasing. Tools like ChatGPT helped me polish drafts, improve flow, and find better words. In many ways, these tools were super helpful in writing. But today I could notice the hidden cost of it - It made me lazy.

Instead of thinking deeply to write sentences, I outsourced them. Instead of sitting with my messy first draft, I could straight get a polished version. That shortcut was helpful and it reduced my struggle! But that same struggle was required to make the writing “writing”.

I am not a pessimist or against AI! AI gave me speed, it made my life a lot easier. But the way I used AI also made me dependent. And this dependency blocked my creativity. I didn’t need to think hard anymore because I had a safety net. But then, fewer original thoughts, less practice, and more creative slump.

The Trick I’m Trying

It’s good that I realised the problems! Now, what can I do about them?

Instead of waiting for the “perfect idea”, I’ve decided to flip the problem. The plan is to write daily, even if it’s only a paragraph or two. I am thinking of it like exercise. Don’t wait for the perfect day, show up, build the habit, and let progress happen slowly.

So each morning, whenever I find some quiet time, I’ll sit down and write. No filters, no editing brain, no rules. Just thoughts in my head at that moment. My theory is simple: if I do this consistently, at least once a week, I’ll have something worth sharing publicly. And if not, that’s still okay. The real win will be showing up.

Realisation

It took me time to realise the problem and admit all this. To say, “Yes, I am avoiding the hard part.”

So here’s the new plan: read daily, even if it’s just an article. Write daily, even if it’s just a scrappy draft. Share weekly, only if it feels valuable. The key is consistency, not perfection.

This is day one of my experiment. Tomorrow will be day two. And hopefully, one day I’ll look back and laugh at how dramatic I made this sound. 😂

And if none of this works, I’ll just write a book titled 101 Creative Ways to Procrastinate Writing. Pretty sure that one will be a bestseller.

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P.S. I did not send this email earlier because I wasn’t sure if I could stick with my commitment. But I’ve been writing every day for the past 10 days, and it’s already feeling easier and more fun. That’s why I decided to hit the send button today. If you’ve also been overthinking something, just start. You’ll figure out the rest along the way.