Wear the writer hat

Just when you thought you couldn’t write

Have you had one of those days — somehow you got it into your head that you can’t write. Try this technique for getting past the Pre-writing Self-defeat Block. Find a hat that you might have around the house. It doesn’t matter which hat but pick one that is comfortable and not too distracting. Baseball cap, turban, cowboy hat, floppy fishing hat, pirate bandana, Easter bonnet. Check your look in the mirror. Call this your Writer Hat.

When you wear this hat, you have given yourself the go ahead to forge on with your writing, no matter how awful it might seem. Just get going and tell yourself a story, write it down any old way you can. The hat means that you can change it later, it doesn’t have to be perfect at first.

After a while you will be having fun again, immersed in the process, with movie scenes passing through your head as though the screen is on the inside of your eyeballs. You have forgiven yourself for being so human, now give yourself permission to just go there.

— Manna is everywhere —