I think there are few things more frustrating in the world of academia than the struggle that is writer’s block.

When you sit down in front of the unnatural glow of your computer screen, knowing you have just x number of hours until you are expected to produce a grammatically correct, double-spaced, three- to- five page paper on the brilliance of a certain unnamed writer or philosopher and all you can seem to do stare at the screen and count down your impending doom…or in my case, sing the annoying song from Thomas the Tank Engine because it’s what you’re 3-year old is watching down the hallway.

In my experience, the best way to deal with the mental stand-still of writer’s block is to simply type.

Sometimes it is what I ate for lunch, sometimes it’s the list of movies I want to look for on DVD. Sometimes it turns into something like this where I end up simply rambling to myself, never expecting anyone else will read it.I have found it helps just to “get the creative juices flowing” if you will.

Although, the problem you may run into is that once unlocked, you can’t get that process to stop. You may end up writing a brilliant treatise on early American philosophy or the next great sci-fi fantasy novel or the next teen girl (who is magic and doesn’t know it) meets boy (who turns out to be an alien, but doesn’t know it)-and-falls-in-love-bringing-the-world-to-the-edge-of-distruction melodrama.

While you may miss your deadline, at least you won’t have to worry about it once the royalties come rolling in right?

Okay, so it’s not overly likely but the important thing is that you start the process. Get the words out of your head and onto the paper.

From there, the block will crumble one word at a time, until you have produced a (hopefully) grammatically correct, double-spaced, 3- to- 5 page paper.

Oh, and don’t forget to include your name, it makes your paper a whole line longer.