Writing strategies are ideal to have as “In case of emergency, break glass” tools. If you’re feeling bored or blocked, these best 3 strategies for revitalizing your writing will jostle you out of your rut, force you to stop thinking so darn much—the number one enemy of a first draft—and create the perfect conditions for finding your writing flow.
To arrive at your riskiest and most interesting and engaging ideas, you have to go where the energy is, says Natalie Goldberg, author of the seminal books on writing, Wild Mind and Writing Down the Bones.
All good writing begins by letting go. Doing this, however, is easier in theory than in practice.
Most of us spend our lives curating a public-facing version of ourselves. Even though writing happens in private, it’s too easy to become aware of its eventual future: it needs to be brilliant, exciting, worthy of publication and capable of selling.
Once that pressure sets in, the editor-self muscles out the free-range, exploratory “let-it-all-hang-out” writer self. The writing veers into safe (read: thin and familiar) territory, and we tighten our grip instead of venturing into the dynamic, innovative material that might actually put us on the map.
Or worse, we become so overwhelmed and blocked, we stop writing altogether.
That’s when having a few reliable writing strategies on hand is invaluable. These 3 best ready-made approaches will remove the pressure to perform, free you from all that thinking and worry, and revitalize your writing in every way.
Even if you use one for only 10 minutes, shifting your attention from the product to the process will re-energize your writing. When you later return to your real work, you’ll bring fresh momentum—and a whole lot more gusto.
For most writers, doubling back to read what you’ve just written is automatic—something you’re probably not even aware you’re doing. It seems harmless, maybe even helpful.
In reality, though, it’s one of the habits most likely to derail your writing.
Why?
The moment you stop to reread your work, you shift from your creator brain—which was happily generating ideas and moving forward—to your editor brain, which immediately begins judging the work.
It’s impossible to read your own fresh writing impartially. The instant you skim those sentences, you’re evaluating them from the outside instead of creating them from the inside.
The problem is that first drafts are rarely good; most of the time they’re only slightly above incoherent. Judging whether they’re “working” or “good” is premature to say the least. (They won’t be). The damage from this too-early examination can be substantial.
“The Birdcage Method” prevents your editor from sneaking into the process too soon. Simply cover your computer screen or page so it’s physically impossible for you to reread what you’ve written. (Sure, you can cheat, but you’ll know better than to do that!)
Once you can’t see your early ideas unfolding, your focus remains on moving forward. There’s tremendous freedom in that. Knowing you can’t go back helps you sink in even deeper. Even if you lose your train of thought or pause to stretch, since you can’t backtrack, you simply pick back up and keep going.
That uninterrupted momentum lets your mind fly. You’re letting go, finding the flow—the “optimal state of consciousness,” and generating your most energetic, surprising material—all the good stuff you’ll shape later.
This app is a deliciously draconian way of forcing you to generate material under pressure. It’s simple to use. It’s also fear-based, which—for some of us—is the jolt of dopamine we need to focus.
The Most Dangerous Writing App is a website. Set the timer, start writing, and don’t stop.
Here’s the catch: if you pause for more than a few seconds, you get a warning. Wait too long, and the app deletes everything you’ve written. This means if you get distracted by a text, decide to do the dishes, or stop to think … poof. All you’ve written is gone forever.
The beauty of typing like your hands are on fire is you’re overriding your tendency to overthink and simply generating. Oddly enough, knowing you can’t think even if you want to is incredibly liberating. It’s like having an all-access pass for your unconscious mind to do what it does best.
For thrill seekers, perfectionists, or anyone desperate to loosen their grip, this app is the ideal solution. [You can read my review of it and how beneficial it is for first drafts here.]
Where The Birdcage Method can be cheated (you can peak if you truly want to), the Most Dangerous Writing App can’t. For many writers, it’s the best way to get to the flow state and be fully present.
Start small. The timer ranges from 5 minutes to an hour. Remember that pausing means losing everything, so think of this hardcore free-writing as a form of muscle building. Begin with 5 and gradually work your way up to longer sessions.
In Natalie Goldberg’s first chapter of Wild Mind , she outlines the 7 “Rules” for writing. Above all else, she says, “keep your hand moving.”
With the Most Dangerous Writing App, that advice is true to the power of 10.
But what happens if you actually “run out of things to write”? (The quotation marks are intentional; if you’re in real flow, you will never run out. The human mind has enough material to last a lifetime.)
Still, flow does ebb and … flow. When your mind comes up for air, here are two variations to keep your hands moving.
I learned this when I was a tour guide at Universal Studios for 8 years in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s. Back then, tours were 2.5 hours long, and often ran even longer when trams would break down or attractions like Earthquake or King Kong had hydraulics issues (which happened pretty much daily).
During those periods of sitting still with 175 people waiting to be entertained, we would lean on our visuals. No matter where we were on the backlot, we could always point to something and begin talking about it. [That’s why our guide manual was about as thick as three phone books. (Remember those?)].
As a writer, you’re always somewhere. Whether that’s outside in nature or sitting in a closet, you can always narrow your eyes and describe what you see, hear, smell, or feel. Returning to your surroundings brings your attention back to noticing, which often nudges you naturally back into your story or ideas.
Along similar lines, you can leap into a recent news story or current event. Describe it as though you were there. Note the people, the setting, the tension, and the details. Let your curiosity take over. Often that momentum will carry you right back into the piece you were writing before you got stuck.
Jabbering away into your phone or another dictation device is a brilliant (and speedy!) way to generate material in what feels like a low-stakes situation. Perhaps it’s because spoken words seem ephemeral; after all, once they are uttered, they disappear.
Except in this case, they don’t. Dictate your thoughts, email the transcript to yourself, and suddenly there they are: your ideas in black and white, many of them surprisingly interesting and full of rough-cut diamonds.
Try dictating while walking, washing dishes, driving, or simply sitting quietly. Because you can’t see what you’ve already said, you can’t edit and have no choice but to keep moving forward.
Dictation is wonderful because it:
The beauty of dictation is that you’re automatically forced to let go. Forward is the only direction you’ve got. Whatever nonsense comes out can always be deleted later.
If only we approached all of our writing with that same freedom, we’d all be creating our most authentic and interesting work all the time.
While these strategies are perfect “back-pocket” tools for those moments when you’re feeling overwhelmed or stuck, they’re also valuable for revitalizing your regular writing practice by keeping it fresh and dynamic. Used consistently, they’ll ensure your enthusiasm remains high, your writing flows, and the ideas stay close to the heart, where it counts.
Try 1—or all 3—and let us know how it goes in the comments below!
Getting stuck is one of the most common challenges for all writers, whether you’re emerging, professional, or somewhere in-between.
If you’re still stuck after using these strategies, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help you write, any time.
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3 Responses
Wow, these are such helpful strategies. I’ve since implemented the timer with success but have yet to tackle The Most Dangerous Writing App!
Thanks, Le Ching! I love that you’ve tried the timer, and when you do get to the Most Dangerous App, you may find (as I have) that you become less invested in your words as in feeling each one matters and ought to be kept and cherished; what I’ve loved about using that app is the idea that there are always more, and they get better the more I generate, and when they disappear (and oh, they do on the longer stints!) it’s OK. With some loss there is gain in this case. Thanks for writing and good luck!
nice