It’s the worst feeling ever — you sit down to work on that article or manuscript and either your mind goes blank or you just can’t put together a cohesive sentence to save your life. Sometimes, you solve the problem by putting your work away and coming back to it later. More often you’re under deadline. Or you don’t have a deadline, but you’ve already put it off five times over the last month and you’re just feeling stuck. This piece has to get written.
The thing about writer’s block is that 99.9% of the time, it’s an excuse. Whether you realize it or not, your mind makes up excuses so that you don’t have to get to work. It’s a form of procrastination.
In her book, The 5 Second Rule, Mel Robbins makes the case that procrastination isn’t really about the task at hand. Procrastination is our brain’s way of dealing with the bigger stresses in our lives and is a “subconscious desire to feel good right now”, therefore relieving the stress at least a little bit. You don’t want to write that article because you’re so stressed out about your kids and your boss and everything else, so you’d really rather do something mindless like watching a reality TV show or scrolling through Facebook.
She recommends three helpful strategies to address procrastination:
- Forgive yourself for procrastinating. Stop beating yourself up, it will only make it worse.
- Think about your future self. What will your life look like when you complete this assignment, chapter, or book? How will you feel once it’s done?
- Implement the 5 Second Rule. Watch Mel’s TEDx Talk below or check out this blog post for more information, but it’s basically a simple way to take action before your brain starts coming up with excuses to not do something.
These strategies are a great start and here are seven more (writer-tested!) ways to crush writer’s block.
1. Skip the introduction.
If you’re having trouble writing an article, skip the introduction altogether and get into the meat of the story. Jump into the main topic and then it will be much easier to go back and write the introduction.
2. Free write.
Another option is to write about anything besides what you’re supposed to be doing. Getting something on paper (or on the computer) will get your creative juices flowing without the pressure of “getting it right” for the assignment.
3. Move your body.
Whether it’s a two-minute walk or dancing around your office to one full song, stepping away from your computer for even a brief time and moving your body will shake up your energy and ease any anxiety you might be having around writing. Expressing yourself creatively is the quickest way to get out of your own way and — literally — get out of your head.
4. Brainstorm.
Remember the mind maps you drew in elementary school to brainstorm? You start with a topic in a circle in the middle of your page and then you draw lines and more circles outwards with different words or themes related to that topic. You could go old school and start drawing circles or just make a list of bullet points of all the things you want to include in your writing. Whether it’s an article, chapter, or even just a segment within a chapter, taking off the pressure of writing it all out and just getting some thoughts down can be enough to get you going.
The thing about writer’s block is that 99.9% of the time, it’s an excuse. Share on X
5. Eliminate distractions.
If you can’t shut yourself in a room in your house to get some peace and quiet, go to a cafe or the library. If you’re too distracted by social media, add an extension to your browser or download an app that blocks sites like Facebook and Instagram. StayFocusd and WasteNoTime are two extensions that work well with Chrome and Freedom can sync across all of your devices.
Many writers use Ommwriter because it’s a word processing program that also eliminates distractions. The website is designed to be very calming, with pastel-colored, nature-inspired backgrounds that incorporate color therapy to either inspire creativity or bring tranquility, natural sounds to play while you work, and fonts that are easy to read.
6. Set up a routine.
When writing is your full-time job, it’s even more important that you don’t get stopped by writer’s block. Set up a routine each day so that you get in the mindset of writing at a certain time. For example, if you know you need to have a cup of coffee and catch up on news first thing, then go for it. Start your writing after you get your admin tasks done. If you know you write better in the afternoon, then don’t worry about it in the morning and start after lunch each day.
To figure out when you are the most productive, continue on your regular schedule and take notes every 30 minutes about how productive you felt, how much energy you had, and how much work you got done. Do this for a week and then you’ll start to see patterns that you can start planning your time around.
7. Read something else.
Reading can give you ideas for all kinds of things like transitions, character development, and even topics. When you’re in the thick of your own writing, it can be difficult to see other possibilities, so pick up your favorite author and see if you can find some inspiration there.
There are also a few business books with useful strategies to help you keep going when you’re feeling blocked. Apply the same strategies to your writing. You can find that list here.
Writer’s block is something that is going to come up from time to time. The first step is to recognize it for what it is — procrastination. It’s not about the writing task at hand, it’s about everything else that might be going on in your life. (That’s why it’s so important to take care of yourself.) Then, play around with these strategies and see which one (or more!) works best for you. Once you figure that out, you’ll be writing in no time!
