Beating Writer’s Block When You’re On A Deadline
By: Ali Newcomb
Tags: Productivity Hacks, Productivity, Writing, Writers Block

Move

This is the single most important thing on my list and it is crucial for productivity, writer’s block or not. Whether I’m sitting at the ergonomically-compliant desk in my home office, or working from a coffee shop (or in the car outside the kids’ school), I force myself to get up and move at regular intervals. Since I have been known to deep dive into wormholes and lose track of time when I’m working, I set the timer on my phone for 60–90 minutes at a time, with 10–15 minutes in-between for me to get off my butt and move.

This practice is even more crucial when I am struggling with writer’s block. Sometimes I need to walk away for an hour, maybe get outside to walk the dog or break a sweat in the gym. Anything that cuts me off from that slow and seething self-loathing I feel when I’m staring at an empty page and a ticking clock. It’s my restart button.

Read

This is both an intervention technique and professional best practice. Project timelines don’t often allow me to stop what I am working on long enough to dive into a the latest page turner, but I have consistently found that I am able to write with more ease and precision when I’m in the middle of a good book. I may only be reading before bed each night, but it seems to reliably keep the word flow in my brain from getting stuck. Writing is a craft that requires constant honing and practice. Reading helps maintain the muscle tone and memory I need to get the job done.

Solve a Puzzle

Although I haven’t quite figured out a way to sit down in the middle of a weekday with the Sunday crossword, I have found that shorter crossword puzzles are a great way to stimulate my vocabulary recall whenever I am drawing blanks. My favorite right now is The New York Times Mini-Puzzle Crossword, which you can download to your smartphone or portable device. You can complete a puzzle in only a few minutes and it is often just the restart I need to get back to work.

Bookmark that Thesaurus

This one is a no-brainer, but I am always surprised at the number of people I talk to who think that relying on any such tool is somehow cheating. I have a browser tab with an online thesaurus open whenever I work. Everyone is guilty of overusing go-to adjectives or favorite turns of phrase, even when you’re in flow and the words are coming easily. I may use the thesaurus like a lifeline when I have a bad case of writer’s block, but it is also an important tool in my editing process and helps me quickly address redundancies.

Listen

Sometimes it takes more than just a change of scenery or increased heart rate to get me out of an inarticulate funk. Whenever I hit that hard of a wall, I have a short list of podcasts that have an almost magical power to rip me out of my present state of consciousness and into more creative space. For me, the subject matter is important and popping my earbuds in to listen to just anything won’t help clear my mental cobwebs. It has to be something narrative and brief enough that I’m not tempted to listen too long. The Moth Radio Hour and The Slowdown podcast are my top two these days and they both release new episodes so often that I am never short on fresh and inspiring content.

Just Do It