Nine ways to write past a "stuck" point.
Bonus tip: I highly recommend a treadmill desk!
I don’t really like the term “writer’s block” but I have experienced periods of extreme low motivation and feeling stuck in a particular place in the manuscript with no clear vision of how I’ll move forward. In fact, huge chunks of Ghost Tamer were written in that space. I was having an incredibly rough time creatively and in general, but I managed to get to the keyboard every day and eventually a book came out.
As a disclaimer, I’m a “pantser,” meaning I don’t outline before I write. I may have a general idea of where the story is going and a rough idea of what’s going to happen, but that can—and often does—change. If you are a plotter, and you’re really stuck, I still think there are practices in here that will work for you, too.
Take a look at what’s going on in your life. You may be dealing with uncertainty or stress from your day job, from a relationship, or just in general. Give yourself the grace of acknowledging that this is likely affecting your writing. It does not mean you have to stop. Although, if you’re not on deadline, and the circumstances are dire, don’t let this add to your stress. Take care of yourself first, the writing will be there. Otherwise, just continue to show up, knowing that you’re doing your best within your current parameters and don’t beat yourself up for not writing like “normal.”
Schedule time to get to the computer and set a timer for how long you’ll be there. This got me through most of Ghost Tamer. I promised myself that I would write for at least thirty minutes every day, no matter what. Sometimes I got going and wrote for longer, sometimes I barely got a page out in thirty minutes. But thirty minutes is better than no minutes. And I always wrote something.
Get an accountability buddy. I wrote Ghost Tamer during 2021, when we were still mostly staying in. I had a group that I would meet with online every Sunday and my goal every week was to produce enough new material to show them. I am positive that I would not have been as diligent if I didn’t have that motivation.
Get out of the house. (Bring your laptop with you.) When things started opening up around Nashville, one of my favorite things to do was get up early on a weekend day and try out a new coffeeshop around town. For some reason, just the fact that I was there for a limited time, out of the house and away from distractions, really helped me to focus. If you’re someone who needs more motivation, have a friend meet up with you with the understanding that you’re both going to work. (Take breaks to give each other advice, or just relax, but make sure you do get some work done.)
Try body doubling! If your writing buddy is long distance, or you just can’t make the physical meet up work, get on a video call. I’ve found that this works best when I do a Pomodoro situation. That is, set a timer for 25 minutes to work, then a five minute break to check in with your partner about how things are going, then another 25 minutes and so forth. I’ve found that two or three of these are usually what most people can handle, although I’ve done four rounds before. Get on the call, catch up for a minute, then tell each other what you’re working on. During the breaks, you can discuss problems you’re having and ask for advice, or just update each other on how it went. I’m not sure why it works, but it really does.
Take a break and read. Sometimes the tank is just empty. Even if you’re on a deadline, chances are you can afford one day off to just read something new or watch something on t.v. These are all stories that you’re using for inspiration.
Go back and read the last part you were happy with and move forward from there. I did this a few times with Ghost Tamer. I just couldn’t get started where I was, so I went back and read to the stuck part. Sometimes it’s enough to jumpstart your brain.
Tell yourself you’re going to write badly. I did a writing exercise once where the instructor asked us to write the most outlandish, ridiculous thing we could think of. Try to make it stupid, she said. Ended up being the most interesting stories we shared. In fact, I expanded upon mine later on. Regardless, get words on the page. You can always edit them later. Give yourself permission to be imperfect and just get the words down.
Write something else. Obviously this does not apply if you’re on a deadline for a particular project. If you’re starting something new and for whatever reason it’s just not grabbing you, try something else. Just keep writing. I’m currently waiting for edits for A Dagger of Lightning, on submission with Catching Magic and wanted to work on something that wasn’t attached to either of those manuscripts so I could leave them alone. I decided to go back to this witch story I started last summer. Well, I wasn’t feeling it. All I did was complain about it. Meanwhile I had an idea for an alien story floating around in my brain. After a week of this, I said screw it, and just started writing the alien story. No one is waiting on the witch story right now. I have no obligation to force it out, so I’ll work on the new one.
Getting stuck happens to everyone, and everyone has moments where they feel like what they’re writing is garbage. The most important thing is to keep going.