Welcome to 5-minute writing tips – answers to questions that clients ask me that can help you be a better/happier/more efficient writer in 5 minutes, 500 words or less
Today’s question: We’re month 18 of a global pandemic, there are new variants every day, and my brain is mush. How do you write when the world is against you?
This is a great question – writing can feel difficult under the best of times, and when there’s all of the mental noise (and if you have kids home, physical noise) around you, it can feel impossible.
So – how do you overcome writer’s block?
Here are three suggestions:
Think about the project: If you don’t divide the project into pieces, it can feel completely overwhelming. But any writing project has chunks to it. An academic project might have the lit review, data collection/coding/analysis, formatting references, etc. Editing can be broken up the same way (see article here).
If your brain says it doesn’t want to write, don’t make it – but you can still engage with the project in some way.
Think about time: Some writers will suggest that you write every day. They’ll swear that if you block out hours in your calendar, and fill those with writing, practice will become habit. Others swear by marathons, so perhaps making sure that you write for long periods of time (like a writing retreat) for 2 or 3 weeks, and then giving projects a break.
One of my clients works really well in chunks: she turns on the timer on her phone for 25 minutes, writes intensely for that amount of time, and then walks away. Another client can only work if there is at least 2 hours of uninterrupted time.
Do you write best in the morning? At night? During the day?
Figure out the time you need to write, and then protect it, but don’t let other writers get in your head.
Toni Morrison – “Writing before dawn began as a necessity--I had small children when I first began to write and I needed to use the time before they said, Mama--and that was always around five in the morning.”
Think about space: Where do you write best?
Writing can also happen in the notes app on your phone, using the voice recorder when you’re out running errands, with a dry erase marker in the shower – all of it counts. I like the note feature on my phone because I can take pictures of my scribbles and save them, jot down notes and search for the tags later.
Space can also be mental - how can you friends be accountability buddies for you? Who can you text when you’re feeling beaten down, or just need someone to know that you’re supposed to be writing?
Bottom line: I also think it’s worth just setting a timer and writing without expectations for awhile. Go back to pitching your project. Write whatever is in your head. Turn off the internet, don’t let yourself look up references, put ** places you need to come back to or use the comment function to make small notes to yourself, but turn your brain off and write.
Need help getting unstuck? Book a coaching session with me!