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Educator's Voice

Volume 6, Issue 11
November 11, 2005

Loosing the Muse: How to Prevent Writer's Block

It is a most unsettling feeling—a blank screen or pad of paper staring at you, forlorn, devoid of words or thoughts. Is our mind really empty or is it just buckled from the pressure of filling that screen with pixels and polished prose?

Most of us experience that feeling occasionally and recognize it as writer's block. We find ways to overcome it and move on. Our students, however, may not be as experienced or self-assured. Writer's block can be a serious challenge that undermines their success. The good news is that we, as instructors and designers, can help our students remedy this problem. Let's explore specific ways to "loose their Muse" and let them write more confidently.

Underlying Causes
Writing experts suggest that fear is the root cause of writer's block, and that it is both common and normal. Any writer at any time may experience fear of failure, fear of success, fear of commitment, or often times, fear of the unknown. The would-be author may fear appearing less than knowledgeable, or may fear writing something that isn't perfect. Fear can freeze fingers in both scholarly and personal writing across all forms of written communication. Fortunately, we can provide students with class settings and instructional strategies that defuse these fearful traps.

Suggestions for Loosing the Muse
In Greek mythology, Zeus and Mnemosyne had nine daughters, the Muses, who were renowned for their creative expression in the arts and science. In their honor, then, let's explore nine methods to inspire your students' writing. For each course, some Muses are more applicable than others, but becoming familiar with all nine "daughters" will give you some options for what works best for your students.

Muse 1: Be very clear about what is expected.
By providing specific directions, you remove fear of the unknown. It's not enough to say, "Answer this question" or "Define astrophysics and give examples." If you want a two-page, double-spaced paper in 12-point font that provides three reasons for the early migration of robins, then say that explicitly. In addition, you can provide a scoring rubric in the course that explains the standards by which you will be assessing the written products. If you already have this, along with the assignment, refer the students to it.

Muse 2: Let the students pursue their interests.
Within the bounds of your course objectives, the more choices the learner can exercise in selecting a topic to write about, the more likely the student will be to write freely. Letting them select what is interesting to them makes the assignment more meaningful and intrinsically motivating. An assignment that specifically allows the learners to build on what they already know and then move into a more advanced level is a good strategy, too. You'll need to use safeguards to ensure that the interests of the student result in authentic—not plagiarized—writing. Consider using this Muse with Muse 6, writing in stages.

Muse 3: Give examples or samples.
If you require a major paper, then provide them with samples from previous students or point out an example that is in a text or Web site. The downside of this approach is that they may try too hard to emulate the sample. Therefore, you may want to include multiple examples. A model, an outline or a diagram of the expected product may help the students better visualize their own work.

Depending on the task and your learners, you might start the response for them. For instance, "The most surprising part of reading about Muses was..." and let them finish it. This is an easy way to guide discussions to stay on topic and to allow the students to ease into writing comfortably. You'll want to tell them about the expectations for their response as Muse 1 advised.

Muse 4: Provide for learner-learner collaboration.
Find ways to take away the sense of isolation that solitary writing can engender. Consider dyads of learners who can give each other comments and support for their writing. A small team may help each other brainstorm ideas and resources. In addition, you can set up a student chat room in which they are encouraged to discuss possible topics, resources, questions and suggestions. These interactions are especially valued by those who are less skilled or comfortable with writing assignments.

Muse 5: Insist on deadlines or definite milestone dates.
Some people simply procrastinate by choice or habit. Perhaps the adrenaline of facing a deadline is an effective Muse, or perhaps the deadline simply forces a reordering of their priorities. In any case, deadlines are effective, and the clearer cut the better. It is also a solid practice to give a heads-up notice such as, "Remember your draft paper is due on Tuesday," which will kickstart some writers into action. Holding to a deadline does not mean failing to take into account hurricanes and exceptional personal life events of the students, but it does mean otherwise announcing and holding to certain dates.

Muse 6: Design stages of writing into your course.
One of the most common methods for avoiding writer's block is to break the task into manageable, less formidable pieces. You can design this into your course by establishing milestones for larger papers, such as having the students submit an outline, a list of references or a draft paper. Providing reinforcement and feedback on these interim products can relieve much of the stress for students. Ensure that they understand that you don't expect perfection at each stage. A side benefit of this process approach to writing is that it makes it harder for students to plagiarize the final paper in its entirety.

Muse 7: Set the tone for learning, not perfection.
An expectation that one's writing has to be perfect from the start is a quick path to freezing up. To avoid this, when you state your faculty expectations and when you communicate with learners, set a tone that emphasizes student growth and improvement, rather than perfection from the start. Provide positive feedback as well as constructive criticism to indicate the road to improvement. This Muse works well with Muse 6, the staged or iterative writing process.

Muse 8: Provide writing hints to students.
Include specific writing advice to your students in your course resources. You could create your own list of suggestions, but there are many writing suggestions that already exist. A few sample Web sites that give students advice are listed below under Further Reading. The types of advice they provide range from rewarding yourself, to verbalizing your ideas, using mind-mapping, taking notes or starting in the middle of an assignment. Since there is no one proven solution for writer's block that fits all students, the potpourri of ideas available here may include a technique that works for one or more of your students. These sites can empower them to problem solve and start writing with more ease.

Muse 9: Be available.
Your presence in the course room is necessary to provide continuity, answer questions and be a final resource. Sometimes students simply need reassurance that you believe they can accomplish the writing task. Other times, they need your expertise or opinion on significant matters of content. You might extend your office hours or set up a chat session with learners at key points in the course. Both the symbolism and the reality of your presence can make a difference in the ability of your students to write confidently and successfully.

Conclusion
With all these Muses dancing and singing, your students are far more likely to avoid the eerie silence of blank screens staring back at them. You, in turn, will receive fewer frantic e-mails about how the dog ate their computer cord just before they could save the final paper. Both you and your students will enjoy the writing process and be rewarded with better papers. Let's applaud the inspiration of the Muses and their fine work!

       —Charlotte A. Redden, Ph.D.

Further Reading

Online Writing Laboratory, Purdue University 2005. "Overcoming writer's block." Retrieved October 15, 2005, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_block.html

Writing Center at TCC, Tidewater Community College 2005. "How to treat writer's block." Retrieved October 25, 2005, from http://www.tcc.edu/students/resources/writcent/HANDOUTS/writing/writblock.htm

Writers Workshop, University of Illinois. "Writing tips: Strategies for overcoming writers' block." Retrieved October 18, 2005, from http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/writer_resources/writing_tips/writers_block.htm

TIP

Tip: Cropping and Resizing Images

Instructors often call our iSupport service with questions about how to crop and resize images if one has neither image editing software nor a technical background in image editing. I suggest using Paint to crop images and PIXresizer to resize images. Paint comes with most PCs that run Windows. PIXresizer is freeware that can be downloaded from http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm. (Note: When you download this application, print out the "Read Me" file, as it contains instructions for using the program.)

I know there is freeware on the market that allows you to crop and resize from the same application, but I chose these two applications to keep the process simple for non-technical users.

To Crop Image Files Using Paint:
Cropping gets rid of unwanted space around an image. For example, I am starting with an image of my daughter seated at a table. The table isn't as interesting as she, so I am going to get rid of it, along with the plate and my arm. (Note: I've reduced the size of this image so that you can see it easily online. The original file is gigantic, as it was taken at the highest resolution setting my digital camera offers. Similarly, your original files will likely be much larger.)

Save a copy of your image to a location that you can access quickly, such as your Desktop or your My Documents folder. Open Paint. Paint can be accessed through the Start menu by choosing Programs, then Accessories. When you open Paint:

1. Click on File > Open and choose the picture you'd like to alter. I recommend you make a copy of the original image because Paint will change the image irrevocably when you save it.
2. Choose the square Select tool from the toolbar to the left of your picture; your cursor will turn into crosshairs.
3. Place the crosshairs in the upper left corner of the image where you'd like to start cropping. Click and drag the crosshairs across the image until you have selected the area you would like to save.
4. Choose Copy from the Edit menu.
5. Choose New from the File menu; a blank white box is displayed in the Paint window.
6. Choose Edit > Paste to paste your cropped photo into the new window.
7. Choose File > Save and name your cropped image. Save it to a folder on your computer where you can find it quickly. Again, I use the Desktop or the My Documents folder.
8. Below is my cropped image. I have saved it as a .jpg because that is the best file type for use on the Internet. If this were a drawing, I would have saved it as a .gif file. Remember: .jpgs and .gifs are the best choices for Internet viewing because they keep the file size down. This is the cropped image from the large file created by my digital camera. This file is too big to place on a Web page or to send through e-mail. As a result, it must be resized.

To Resize using PIXresizer:
Open PIXresizer. If you chose to have an icon put on your desktop when you downloaded the software, you can click on it. Otherwise, go to Start > Programs > PIXresizer.

1. The default screen is the one in which you work with a single picture at a time. Click on the Load Picture button at the top left of the screen and choose your cropped photo.
2. Choose the size to which you'd like the image reduced. If you understand pixel widths, you can manipulate those, but don't uncheck the checkbox that says "Maintain aspect ratio." If you're like me, you'll just eyeball the cropped image and decide if you want it reduced by a half, a third, etc.
3. Choose a file type. Some digital cameras output photos as .gif files. I usually change those to .jpgs for better display quality. Many publishers include .bmp images in their testbanks and ancillary material. If this is the case, you should probably change them to .gifs because .bmp files are uncompressed and don't load well in a browser.
4. Click the Save Picture button and choose where you'd like to save the new image. When you click Save Picture, PIXresizer creates a whole new image file for you rather than altering the original one you opened for resizing. It also includes the file size (in pixels) in the title of the new image.

Below is my original cropped image reduced to 25 percent of its original size. This size is perfect for placing in the syllabus of a course, for example. Pretty neat!

       —Vicki Galloway Harsh, MA