43 ways to regain your inspiration and overcome writer’s block
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

43 ways to regain your inspiration and overcome writer’s block

Everyone has times when they sit down to write and the words just won’t flow. You stare at the screen or the paper for a while, then tentatively put your pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard and start to write, only to stop in frustration because you just know that what you just wrote doesn’t meet your standards or because you can’t get ideas out. The problem with writing is that when your heart isn’t in it, it shows in the end product.

Causes of writer’s block

There are all sorts of causes for writer’s block, and the reasons often vary from writer to writer. Some common causes include:

You just aren’t into the topic (either at the moment or at all) –

I encounter this cause with some topics that I’ve been trying to write about for a while. I actually am into the topic, but am not into writing about it. Disaster fiction is a great one. Given my background as an emergency manager, I really enjoy good disaster fiction, and, given that I’ve responded to hundreds of emergencies and disasters and studies thousands more, I keep thinking that I should be able to write some great disaster fiction that both entertains and helps people become more resilient and prepared, however, I’m just not into writing about that topic. So whenever I sit down to try to write about it, it goes nowhere, and I’m left, after a painful and drawn out session with little to show for my effort other than wasted time and the temptation to never try to write again.

Fear – 

While fear more often hamstrings newer writers, it’s not unusual for even experienced writers to struggle with being afraid of putting their and themselves out there for the world to see and criticize. I know of several experienced writers who are experts in their field who agonize over putting their work out there because they’re afraid of what people might say or criticism that they might receive.

Bad timing – 

Sometimes, it’s just not the right time to write. Sometimes, it may not be the right time to write on a particular topic, or it may just not be the right time to write at all.

Perfectionism –

Just as with starting other endeavors, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting everything to be just so before you start writing. Whether it’s that you think your topic isn’t good enough, or you want the overview of the content to be perfect in your mind’s eye, or your writing area isn’t set up to your liking, or a host of other reasons, it’s easy to never put pen to paper or touch a keyboard because you’re waiting on everything to be just right.

Whatever the reason(s) that you struggling with writer’s block, in an effort to help you either avoid this situation in the first place, or help you back on track, here are 43 different approaches that either I or other writers I know use to avoid or break through writer’s block.

Avoid Writer’s Block:

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1.     Carry a notebook or some other way of recording ideas with you –

As I go through the day, I often hear, see, do, or experience things that give me content ideas. Unfortunately, unless I somehow make a note or reminder about these ideas, I will almost certainly forget about them over the course of the day. So, I carry a little notebook (actually, a Levenger Bomber Jacket International Pocket Briefcase) with a sufficient supply of 3 x 5 cards so that I could write the great American novel. When an idea strikes me, I whip out the pocket briefcase and jot it down to follow up on later. A couple of quick cautions though –

  • Make sure to write legibly – nothing is more frustrating than going back through these note cards and finding an entry that reads, "colat logam ptyrtple" and having no clue what the heck that means and not being able to remember what the blasted great idea was.
  • Process these cards regularly. A close second to the first frustration is finding that you recorded a really, really GREAT idea (which was legible) that was time sensitive, and when you finally got around to going through the accumulated cards several weeks later, the great idea's time had expired.

An alternative to carrying a notebook is to use some sort of dictation service or app – there are a number of apps and services, some free and some paid.

Finally, use the notebook or dictation service / app not only to record your inspirations, but also to gather idea seeds wherever you go. 

2.     Be prepared when you start writing –

Maximize your writing effectiveness by gathering ideas (see above…). It’s much easier to avoid writer’s block and quickly develop excellent content if you start with a good topic along with either a set of ideas on which to write or an outline of the content flow. Do what works best for you – it may be simply a good topic, it may be a pithy title, or it could be an outline of the full work.

3.     Start with the end in mind –

Know where you want to go with your writing, what you want your final content to look like. Nothing makes writing a more painful and prolonged process than wandering in the “I have no idea where I’m going desert”.

Nothing drags out the writing process more than “wandering in the desert of no idea where I’m going.” You should have your article outlined before you ever sit down to write it. How do you do this? Brainstorm the points a particular topic needs. It’s a good idea to do this at an earlier point in time if possible. If research is needed, get it. Depending on how you work, this can mean having a list in progress and adding to it when you have small bites of time like when waiting for kids or your morning commute.

4.     Eliminate distractions as much as possible –

There’s nothing like the phone ringing, the dog barking, the stove timer going off, or hundreds of other things to distract you from writing, break your concentration and flow, and derail a great writing session. When you write, eliminate distractions to the greatest extent possible. Go to a dedicated space, close the door after either telling people that you’re going to be writing or posting a “Writing, please do not disturb” sign on the door, and do whatever else you need to do to cut down on possible distractions. This is particularly important if you’re like me and can sometimes be particularly prone to distractions. 

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5.     Close your “digital door” to avoid digital distractions when you’re writing –

Just like you need to avoid distractions in the physical world (the dog playing the in-out game, the kids asking for treats, the phone ringing, etc.) it’s critical to avoid digital or virtual distractions that can divert you from writing. This means turn off email notifications (or better yet close your email app), close social media sites and chat apps, etc. Depending on how distractible you are you may need to take this a step further and install an app like Pause or some other website blocker designed to increase productivity, or, if you’re really distractible, you may even need to have a dedicated space for writing with a computer that is not online to minimize distractions.

6.     Regularly feed your mind –

Read books, magazines, and other sources that provide insight (e.g., blogs, news sites, LinkedIn & other social media, online forums, etc.) to get inspiration, ideas, and topics on which to build. Another great way to feed your mind is to subscribe to newsletters and sites like FlipBook to get additional content and content ideas.

7.     Work out your mind regularly too –

Creativity is not unlike muscles – it can grow and become stronger, but to do this, you need to stretch it, challenge it, work it out, and push it beyond its comfort zone. When you do this, like your muscles, your creativity will grow. Find some games that boost creativity or some other activities that work for you to boost your creativity, and do those regularly to increase your creative stamina.

8.     Work out your body –

Working out your mind isn’t the only work out you should do. You should regularly work out your body, as doing so will keep you in better shape, ensure that your blood flows more freely, and also does wonders to help boost brain activity and improve focus. While working out regularly helps in the long term boost brain activity and improve focus, when you’re dealing with writer’s block or lack of inspiration, often, a good work out can help you break through the wall to find additional inspiration or focus to write better.

9.     Remember that writing is a discipline and a habit

The only way to get better is to apply your willpower and write every day. Determine your most creative and productive time of day (for many it’s first thing in the morning, though for other folks it could be late at night or some other time) and make a commitment to yourself to spend at least 30 minutes every day at that time writing. After doing this for around 30 days, it should become an ingrained habit, so that you will just by habituation write daily at that time. Writing daily like this has several results. First, since you have made writing a daily habit, your writing skills will continually grow. Second, because you’re writing daily, you have a significant amount of content that you can publish or from which you can draw for other pieces.

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10.      Make a list of articles you want to write even if you don’t have time to write them right now –

I often find that my creativity for writing topics comes and goes in spurts. Some days I don’t come up with any topic ideas, while other days, I have a super creative streak and end up coming up with 20 or more different ideas on which to write. When this happens, I save all of the topic ideas, often with either the first paragraph or an outline of what I want to cover in the post, blog, article, etc. so that I can come back when I have time and crank out the content even if I’m in a dry spell developing topic ideas.

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11.     Schedule your writing time –

Treat writing like an appointment – set a calendar entry, an alarm, or timer for a specific time, and when that appointed time arrives, set everything else aside and start writing. Treat it just like any other appointment for which you’d set aside other tasks, and get to work. Also, no hitting snooze on the alarm or the calendar reminder – don’t renegotiate this agreement with yourself when the time comes around – go with it and produce some great prose.

12.     Use a swipe file –

Marketing copywriters and creative directors maintain swipe files of proven advertising and sales copy, whether they or someone else wrote it. Their swipe files provide them with proven prose that they can use, either directly in a campaign, or indirectly as a source of inspiration and reference for ideas and projects. Take a page out of their book (pun intended…) and set up a swipe file that relates to your writing.

Swipe files don’t just apply to marketing and ad copywriters – other authors as well as publishers can benefit significantly from creating swipe files of best-selling works on which they can draw for their own titles or inspiration. Publicists can also benefit from swipe files of press release headlines that really resonated.

How you develop your swipe file depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with it. If you’re trying to get inspiration for writing topics, you might subscribe to a variety of blogs, newsletters, and other publications that focus on your primary specialties so that you can see what topics other authors are covering. Alternatively, if you write books, you might have a swipe file of titles that you use to spark your creative juices when identifying an out of this world title for your latest blockbuster. 

13.     Collect frequently asked questions you and others (colleagues, clients, prospects, etc.) come up with about your main subject areas –

Frequently asked questions can give you a great hook around which you can build content. This is a great source of content because they are a direct reflection of the current needs and challenges of your audience or target market. If you can address or provide a solution for one of these challenges, then you're creating content, for which your target audience is eager, as well as meeting a need of theirs or helping them solve a problem. Depending on the topic, you may even be able to create a series build around a single FAQ topic. Additionally, depending on the topic(s) and the content, you can use this content not only for social media content, but also repurpose it and use it for other things, such as an FAQ page on your website, content for blog posts on either your or your company’s page, marketing emails, etc.

As with other content ideas, make sure to write these questions down - create a document or some other system where you can record and keep track of the questions your colleagues, audience, prospective or existing clients, friends, etc. ask you about your main areas of focus, and make sure to rank them by how frequently they're asked. The more frequently a question is asked, the more in demand its answer will be.

14.     Keep a statistics file – 

If your writing (or some of it) relies on statistics (e.g., statistics about investing and retirement, statistics about business, statistics about disasters, etc.) then collect statistics from the profession(s) / field(s) and topic(s) about which you write, and keep these statistics in a file of some sort.

Keeping this collection of statistics on the profession(s) / field(s) and topic(s) about which you write, can help you both avoid and overcome writer’s block. Your statistics file can help you avoid writer’s block by:

  • Ensuring that when you start out writing, you have a number of statistics related to the topic at hand, providing you with fodder to fuel your writing efforts
  • Providing you with inspiration for new and fresh topics on which to write – if you’re starting out to write, perusing the statistics file may provide the topic idea for your next post or article
  • Helping to ensure that, while writing, you don’t get off track by searching for statistics to support the argument that you’re making

I keep a statistics file for multiple topics in different professional disciplines in which I write. My current approach is to use EndNote to keep all of the articles from which my statistics hail, and keep the specific statistics that I’ve mined from each article in a Microsoft Word document with the statistics classified by what they refer to, with the reference inserted using EndNote’s Cite While You Write plug in to ensure that when I’m ready to use a particular stat in a piece, all I have to do is copy and paste it from the statistics file into the piece that I’m writing, complete with the footnote or endnote. I’d prefer to use Excel to manage my statistics file, since I could then have multiple sortable classifications for each statistic, however, EndNote doesn’t insert footnotes / endnotes into Excel, and a big part of the whole exercise is to know precisely from which source the stat originated so that it can be properly referenced in the completed work. That said, I am thinking of migrating my statistics files → Excel so as to be able to take advantage of the robust sorting capability based on multiple variables / fields and do the extra work of reentering the source information when writing.

15.     Get a bit of a head start before quitting for the day –

Before you call it quits on a writing session for a longer project (e.g., an article or book, not a shorter post that is done in one sitting…), jot down your thoughts for your next session. When I’m writing longer pieces, often when I knock off for the day, I do so with some good thoughts of where I want to go next. Unfortunately, with all the distractions in life, if I simply leave those ideas in my mind, I’ll lose them by the next morning. So, I note my thoughts in the article, book, or other longer work that I’m working on. Usually, I put them into an outline form at the end of where I was writing to make it easy to pick up where I left off without losing the sometimes mediocre and sometimes great thoughts of where to go next.

16.     Don’t edit while you write –

Get your thoughts out on paper (or in the computer), regardless of how they come out. Then go back and edit and do spelling and grammar check. Don’t keep going back and changing misspelled words, fixing grammar, or editing (as long as things are legible enough for you to understand what you’re saying when you read back over it later). Getting into editing or fixing grammar and spelling while writing is a great way to bring on writer’s block as you’re constantly switching between a creative mindset and a more technical one.

17.     Don’t wait for the perfect word –

Don’t interrupt your flow by casting about for the perfect word. Like editing while you write, this will interrupt your writing flow, and put you on the path to writer’s block. If you’re really set on finding a better word for something, jot a comment or highlight the word so that you can revisit it later, during the editing process, and then keep writing. Once you’re done writing, then go back and wordsmith, if necessary.


Overcome Writer’s Block:

1.     Write an article, post, or story based on a current event or trending topic, even if the topic isn’t in one of your primary areas of expertise –

The objective here is to get out of your comfort zone and make yourself figure out ways to write about trendy or “hot” topics, essentially, working on increasing your creativity (see number 4 above…). Not only does this help you boost your creativity and get you used to writing about current events and trending topics, it also helps broaden your horizons and may help you break into new content areas. Finally, writing on current events or topics that are outside of your areas of focus is particularly useful for bloggers, people who write company content where the content needs to be relevant, and others who need to write on a wide range of topics (ghost writers, marketing folks, etc.).

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2.     When you hit a wall, change up your writing environment –

When you hit the writer’s block wall, the best thing that you can do is change your writing environment. Do you usually write at your desk in your office? Think about moving to an armchair or the bed with a lap desk, or to the dining room table, a nearby coffee shop, or library. Alternatively, consider moving to an outdoor location, perhaps your back deck or a nearby park where you can be surrounded by nature while you work. After all, research shows that being in nature reduces stress while also improving brain function, memory, and mental health while also increasing inspiration. 

3.     Do something that inspires you –

When you encounter writer’s block or lack of inspiration, change gears and do an activity that usually inspires you or gives you a muse. When I’m feeling uninspired, I often go work out, split wood (by hand, with a maul, not using a machine), swim, go for a walk, listen to music, read a creative book, or even go to a museum. These might not be activities that inspire you, so take some time, before you have writer’s block next to figure out what activities inspire you. Maybe your inspiration comes from looking at beautiful architecture, or seeing a play, or maybe it comes from flying a plane or seeing masterpiece paintings or sculptures. Whatever it is, figure it out and, the next time writer’s block hits, do one of these inspirational activities.

4.     Write something for someone else’s title –

The aim here isn’t plagiarizing or stealing someone else’s work. Rather, the goal of this approach is to force yourself to get out of your comfort zone, and, rather than writing how you usually do, write within the confines and a structure defined by someone else. An alternate approach to this same tactic is to do this using one of your pieces (article, post, blog, essay, etc.). Take your piece’s title and write a second, completely different piece using the same title.

5.     Break up complex topics into smaller chunks –

Have you ever heard the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” That same approach often helps with writing, particularly when you’re having difficulty. Tackling smaller chunks of complex topics or pieces gives you more manageable goals, allowing you to write it more easily one piece at a time. The next time that you find a topic getting too complicated, try dividing it up into several, more discrete and manageable topics. It might work really well this way.

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6.     Write the old fashioned way –

Ditch the computer and put pen to paper. Sometimes, writing at a computer can be a great way to get words and ideas flowing, however, other times, it can be too sterile. When you have writer’s block, changing up the approach, picking up a pen and putting it to paper often helps overcome the lack of inspiration. Using a pen and paper is a more involved, interactive form of writing that uses more of your senses. Rather than just sitting at a keyboard, you’re hefting a pen – you feel the shape and weight of it in your hand, you feel the texture and the grain of the paper under your hand, you hear the pen scratching across the paper, and, depending on what kind of pen and ink you’re using, you may even smell the ink. When I have trouble writing, I sometimes use this more tactile approach, usually with a fountain pen (with an ink cartridge, not a dipping one) and high quality paper, and it helps get me back into a creative zone.

7.     Dictate your writing –

While writing using a computer or pen and paper may sometimes be the way to go, sometimes, changing to dictating helps because you’re using a different part of your brain and a different set of pathways. Additionally, most people can talk significantly faster than they can type or write, so dictating can help when an inability to get the words out quickly enough keeps hampering your creativity. Dictating can also help you “write” when you’re in situations that are not conducive to writing using other approaches, such as driving.

8.     Use your writing to tell a story –

A great way to make your writing more engaging and memorable is to turn it into a story with characters, a situation, a conflict and a solution / resolution, or at least a beginning, middle, and end. Even if you’re writing about dry topics, such as research or business accounting, etc., making your writing more engaging and memorable is not only helpful to the reader, but also often makes it easier to create and helps overcome lack of inspiration.

9.     Start where you feel the most motivated –

Remember, just because you were taught to start writing at the beginning and go in order in school doesn’t mean that this is the approach that’s always best to use. While it does make writing more methodical and make it easier to ensure that everything that should be in a work is actually in it, it often isn’t the best approach from a creative standpoint. Sometimes, starting at the beginning is too dull, and uninspiring. Rather, when you find yourself contending with a lack of enthusiasm for a writing project, step back, think about it, and see if some part of it engenders more enthusiasm and excitement for you. If it does, tackle this part first, as doing so often can lead to generating ideas for other parts of the piece and increasing enthusiasm for completing it.

10.     Don’t feel that you have to create the exhaustive work on a topic –

You don’t have to write everything there is to say on your chosen topic. Having that mindset can often hamper creativity and inspiration when you’re left trying to remember every last detail and cram in every last fact. Furthermore, trying to write everything there is to say is not only often detrimental to the writer’s creativity, it can also result in a very dry work that readers don’t enjoy. Even if it doesn’t result in a dry, unenjoyable work, including every detail is definitely detrimental to the work when you’re writing for social media or a blog or other medium where you’re trying to encourage engagement from your readers.

11.     Walk away –

If you’ve been beating your head against the wall for a while working on a piece, but not making the progress that you need or want to make, walk away from it and take a break. I’m not saying you should walk away permanently, but rather that you should take a break for a while, get yourself in a better place, and then revisit the work. Sometimes, when you do this, you may be able to jot down the main points and ideas that you want to touch on before taking a break, so that you can then come back and pick up writing where you left off. Other times, you may not be in a place to do so, so try to remember what you’re planning on doing with the content. Either way, take a break and do something to regain your creativity and inspiration.

12.     When you get stuck, stop and read your content aloud –

Doing this can accomplish a number of things. First, this involves several different senses and brain pathways not usually used in writing. Reading your content aloud and listening to what you’re reading will often break loose a logjam in your head helping you to understand the content better and helping you figure out where to go next. Additionally, reading your content aloud will also help you uncover errors, inconsistencies, and other issues that you may not notice simply reading silently.

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13.     Drink coffee (or tea) –

Caffeine is a stimulant, therefore, it, by definition, increases brain function, and can help increase creativity. If you’re stuck, think about having a nice hot cup of coffee or tea.

14.     Eat some food –

When you aren’t properly nourished, your brain won’t function at maximum capability. So, if you’re hitting a creative roadblock, get something to eat. Consider something like some fruit or candy with simple carbohydrates that will quickly raise your blood sugar and also quickly get fuel to your brain cells (glucose, a sugar, is one of the few substances that can cross the blood-brain-barrier), followed by something with more complex carbohydrates and proteins that will give you “staying power” to keep your blood sugar at a stable level for a while.

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15.     Make sure that you’re properly hydrated –

Though water is the major component of the human body (~55% - ~80%, depending on age, sex, and % of fat), it takes a surprisingly small drop in water content to cause pretty significant issues:

  • a 1% ↓ in water causes a 12% ↓ in productivity, negatively affecting mood, attention, memory, & motor coordination
  • A 3% ↓ in water causes fuzzy thinking
  • A 5% ↓ in water in the body causes a 25 – 30 % ↓ in energy

Dehydration can also cause other issues such as joint pain, headaches, & ulcers, increasing histamine & allergic response, leading to ↑ asthma attacks, inflammation, & bronchial constriction & lowering of immunity. All of this points to remaining properly hydrated (or quickly fixing dehydration) as critical to overcoming writer’s block. Your water needs vary – men need 3.7L / day (about a gallon) while women need 2.7L (just shy of ? of a gallon), and 80% of your water intake should come from drinks while the remaining 20% should come from food. Remember, caffeinated drinks and alcohol are diuretics and will cause increased water loss, so, if you’re drinking something caffeinated (like the coffee or tea in #24…) offset it with some other drink such as water, juice, Gatorade, etc. 

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16.     Have an adult beverage –

Alcohol lowers inhibitions and also helps the brain become a bit more loose and able to make more creative jumps. So, if you hit the wall, consider an alcoholic beverage. I’m not saying that you should get rip roaring drunk, but having a drink or two might help you to become more creative or get past the log jam in your head. Just remember, if the drink(s) you have help you to write better, don’t publish your content created whilst under the influence without first rereading it once the alcohol is out of your system. While alcohol can be great for overcoming creativity issues, it can also lead to some spectacular mistakes and incoherent prose, so make sure that you double check. Also, never, under any circumstances, drive while under the influence – that’s a great way to ruin multiple lives. 

17.     Practice your blank stare –

When you’re practicing your blank stare, just zoning out looking at a wall, the outdoors, the counter, some peeling paint on a door, etc., your mind can start playing all sorts of creative games, leading you to see some interesting approaches and solutions that can help with overcoming writer’s block and reclaiming your creativity.

18.     Do something that gets your blood moving a bit more –

Get up and move around, go for a walk, go for a jog or run, work out, split wood (the old fashioned way with a maul or using a sledgehammer and wedges, not using a machine…), or whatever else you like to do that gets your blood moving.

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19.     Play –

Playing, either on your own or with someone else, often can help break through writer’s block by using different parts of your brain. One thing that I like to play with sometimes to get back on tract is Lego – it’s both creative and precise, and the combination often seems to help break through writer’s block for me. Another one that sometimes works is a fidget spinner.

20.     Draw or Doodle –

Take a break, break out a pen or pencil and paper and draw or doodle. Just draw whatever comes to mind, or, sketch specific things that you see. 

21.     Brainstorm ideas using bullet points –

Sometimes, a simple refocusing from the activity of writing to brainstorming ideas can help generate great new ideas and help you break through the wall of writer’s block. Doing this in bullet points isn’t necessarily critical, though doing it this way accomplishes two things at one time – first, you’re brainstorming, and second, by using bullet points, you’re setting up your ideas sort of in outline fashion, which can also help writing. 

22.     Pet your pet –

Petting dogs and other animals, even hard shelled ones like turtles, has been shown to have numerous benefits. Multiple studies show that petting animals, even if they’re not your own, lowers stress, heart rate, and blood pressure, while releasing positive hormonal signals. Petting animals releases a small surge of dopamine and serotonin, both of which are “feel good” neurotransmitters, making you feel better, and making your brain work better. 

23.     Take a shower or bath –

For some people, taking a shower or bath is a freethinking time when they get great ideas. It doesn’t work for everyone, but when it does work for someone, it can be an incredibly productive creative time. If it works for you, don’t forget to have your ideas notebook handy so that you can jot down the plethora of amazing ideas as soon as you get out so that you don’t lose them.

24.     Talk to your significant other, your spouse, or a good friend about what’s going on –

Often, talking about what you’re working on and where you’re hung up with someone who knows you well can result in some great insights from the other person as to why you’re hung up and how to get past the roadblock.  

25.     Go to your happy place

When you go to your happy place, either a physical one or one that exists in your mind, this helps give you happiness (surprising, that), freedom to lose yourself in a the moment, an opportunity to find meaning and reflect on things, and a springboard to accomplish great things. This, in turn, helps to reorient you, center you, and help get your creativity back where it needs to be so that you can break through writer’s block.

  • If you don’t have a happy place, try some of the following to identify one or more:
  • Think of places where you experienced great contentment or meaning
  • Recall places where you’ve really enjoyed the views or scenery
  • Remember places where the sounds made you happy or peaceful
  • Think of the elements that make you happy, & think of places that embody these elements
  • Reread a favorite book from childhood
  • Rewatch a favorite show or movie from childhood
  • Listen to a piece of music of which you’re particularly fond
  • Keep an open mind

26.     Freewrite –

When you go to your happy place, either a physical one or one that exists in your mind, this

When you having difficulty getting ideas out try freewriting to get creative again

Do the following:

  • Set a time limit. Newer writers try 10 minutes, more experienced, try 20
  • Relax, empty your mind, & forget all of the rules about writing (the most important of the steps)
  • Pick a writing prompt (idea, person, emotion, place, etc.) to will help you develop ideas if you run out
  • Start the timer & WRITE & DON’T stop until the timer goes off
  • Write fast enough so your hand goes faster than your brain can second guess
  • Write whatever comes to mind without stopping. Don’t correct mistakes or misspellings or find a better word. KEEP WRITING if the idea fades. Think of the prompt for ideas. If there’s ? on your mind, then write THERE’S NOTHING ON MY MIND over & over until another idea comes or the timer goes off
  • When the timer goes off, STOP. Slowly read your writing & underline ideas pertinent to the project on which you’re working, & ideas pertinent to other projects or that can be topics for new projects.
  • If the writing is too unfocused, take a break & try another session later.
Diana B.

Researcher at GGz Centraal.

5 年

Thanks for posting this. I'm going to save it and use it for future reference.

Pancho Yarra

FEMA Disaster Survival Assistance | Emergency Management | Emergency Preparedness | Disaster Recovery | Life Safety | Health Care | Public Information Officer/Media | Special Events | Logistics | Facilities | Minister

5 年

Write the first thing that comes to mind. Forget about editing, that comes later. Just get your thoughts down. You don’t have to write linearly. Get stuck on one segment, go to a different segment and work on that.

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