Opinion | Why is it so hard to overcome writer’s block?

Writer’s block is a very interesting psychological event that many people experience. Whether you write stories, write song lyrics, enjoy writing poetry or something else, writer’s block will always be something that can get in the way. Maybe you are uninspired, maybe nothing interesting has happened to you recently to write something. Maybe you lost that spark that you originally had when putting something together. Writer’s block can affect anyone.

Recently, I’ve been going through a bit of a writer’s block when it comes to writing and making music. I am a musician and I have played guitar since middle school — I’ve been playing for around seven years now. I absolutely love it when I get big inspiration for song lyrics, and I have had a lot of inspiration for about two months now. I have written many sets of lyrics and thought of a few guitar ideas as well — I actually started recording demos to put out an EP or LP at some point. 

The problem is with the first demo I started recording — I absolutely despise it now. The lyrics aren’t as good to me as they were before. Maybe I have to make a few edits and it might sound better to me. Most of the time when I write song lyrics, I share it with a couple of my friends that are musicians as well — mainly my friends who I’m in a band with or who share a similar taste in music. Funny thing is, my friends love the song that I’m no longer a big fan of. I guess I’m just uninspired with it now, but my friends enjoying the song might get me back into it.

I also can’t think of how the song should sound. Similarly to how writer’s block affects a person, I feel stuck with the composition of my songs. I’m thinking of what guitar chords I should use. I’m thinking about what key the song should be in and what the BPM should be. I don’t know how I should sing the lyrics. I guess that’s just part of the musician experience. Everything is so complex.

When it comes to writing lyrics, I haven’t written lyrics in about 2 weeks. Recently, I’ve written a short essay and posted it on my Substack. But that is very different compared to lyrics, because lyrics include the audio element of a song. I write poetry as well, but I feel as though I haven’t written a solid poem in a bit, either — and honestly, I have no clue why.

If I don’t have any inspiration for a bit, I fall into a black hole of writer’s block, or what I could call ‘musician’s block’. I try to write something good, I try to think of things to inspire me, but I just can’t. The odd thing is, when something happens in my life, that’s when I get the most inspiration. I have bands that inspire me, and I’ll listen to my inspiration playlist, but that doesn’t work all of the time.

One piece of key advice I live by is that you shouldn’t force yourself to write. If you are feeling uninspired, it’s okay to wait for a little bit. When it comes to creating music, don’t force yourself into that right away either. Record when the time is right — take your time. Also, it’s okay to write bad things sometimes. There may be times when what you write is bad to you but incredible to others. Don’t be scared to share your essays, poetry or music with anyone. Share it with people that know you well and that will be honest with how they really feel about it. 

Maybe change your scenery, go somewhere new or listen to some music that you have never heard before. When I’m uninspired, I’ll listen to new songs or read random articles and poems. It doesn’t help all of the time, but at least it can get some newer thoughts flowing.

In reality, is there really a specific way to overcome writer’s block? My answer is that everyone is different — it really depends. How I see it is maybe we don’t really get over writer’s block — maybe we find something that inspires us, then we write, then fall into that writer’s block again. One can be so inspired one second, then have no clue what to write for a couple of weeks.

Overall, just don’t feel like a failure if you can’t think of anything to write or put together. It happens to the best of us, and maybe that block is a good thing. Maybe the block is a sign to take a break, then later on you will think of something amazing.

Go through writer’s block? You can email Irene at inm24@pitt.edu.