I was on a deadline. My editor said to have a breaking story by 6 p.m.

It was 5 p.m.

“I don’t care what you have by then — but you better turn something in,” she told me.

Journalists don’t believe in writer’s block. I didn’t have time to consult the muse for inspiration. I had to tie the muse down and strangle him until he gave me what I wanted.

When 6 p.m. came I didn’t turn in a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I had something. It was solid. Writer’s block didn’t win, because I couldn’t let it win.

Writer’s block is another poor excuse at the end of the day. Journalists don’t have the luxury of using it. Time to train your mind to do the same.

Neil Strauss’s Trick For Fighting Writer’s Block

Neil Strauss is an American author and journalist with the Rolling Stone and New York Times. Writer’s block is a myth according to Neil.

“Writer’s block is the equivalent of impotence,” says Strauss. “It’s the performance pressure you put on yourself that keeps you from doing something you naturally should be able to do.”

This is Neils trick:

Write one sentence that is so interesting someone has to read the next. Then write another sentence that makes someone feel something emotionally. Now write one that ties back to the first. Keep writing unforgettable sentences until you create an entire paragraph.

It’s so easy my 13-year-old sister could do it: “The door slammed. She screamed at the top of her lungs. He crept up behind her and said, “I think this place is haunted.”

This isn’t an exact formula, of course. But Neil says it works for everyone, even non-writers. The job of the first sentence is to get the reader to read the second, and then the whole paragraph, and so on.

Use ‘TK’ When You Get Stuck

TK stands for “to come.” It’s what writers use when working on a first draft to get all their ideas out. If an exact word or detail stops you right in your track, then it’s time to write TK and press onward.

Fun fact: When you type in the words TK in a Medium draft, it will actually show up next to your paragraph in bold yellow letters. Medium will make it clear that you need to come back to this graph later on.

Go ahead — check it out in a draft right now (but come back after OK).

Pretty neat huh?

Why tk and not TC? Tim Ferriss once explained tk is a string that rarely appears in the English language. It’s an easy phrase to find in your document later.

Give Yourself Permission To Bomb The First Draft

Only novice writers think everything has to be perfect in the first draft. Even as I write these words I’ve rewritten the first sentence a few times.

Bomb your first draft. No one is going to see it except you. Think of it as creative vomit. After you’re done, you can clean up the mess.

Lee Gutkind, author of “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction,” once explained what professional writers do in a day.

“From time to time people ask me, What do writers do every day? I used to answer, ‘What do you think? We write!’ But these days I have a different answer: “We rewrite!”

Your mission in your first draft is to press on. That’s what journalists do to fight writer’s block. The real writing is in the revising you make afterward.

Don’t let an embarrassing first draft stop you.

Create a No-Excuses Writing Sanctuary

Turn off your cellphone.

Close the door to your room, office, or whatever.
Put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

Invest in noise-cancellation headphones.
Create a sanctuary.

Pick a space when you open your laptop you get down to business. Don’t choose your bed.

Did I mention turn off your cellphone?

Eliminate all distractions. Writing is sacred. Treat it as such.

Final Thoughts

“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” — Steven Pressfield

No writer deserves to be great. You have to fight for it. Rip it from the clutches of the muse. Don’t let writer’s block stop you from creating your masterpiece.

I really do think that every Medium writer has something valuable to give to the world. In the way of your writing is a jungle. It’s full of excuses, lies, and self-doubt.

Take a machete and cut through the excuses. At the end of that jungle is something so beautiful you won’t be able to think about how it ever came from you.

Words can’t describe the feeling.

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