7 Unorthodox Tips That May Help You Get Past The Writer’s Block

One of them involves going head down to be a monk for a day

Photo: By Author (P.S. That book is by James Altucher)

As writers, we all fear facing that Great Wall of China — the writer’s block. It could be a mysterious case of creative burnout, an inability to focus, or a struggle to write a coherent flow. We start to enter a vicious loop of trying too hard to churn out articles, perhaps taking multiple pauses by scrolling endlessly on our social feeds, silently praying to Thoth (the Greek-Egyptian god of writing), hoping that he will grant you that miracle of the coveted writing flow back. But the more you try, the less your words flow! The sentences are not connecting, the words are not birthing, the paragraphs are simply not cohesive.

Should you just give up writing altogether then? Of course not, Hell to the no!

We are all writers, by birth or by choice, till death do us part.

I started out in March this year, feeling strong and empowered with a goal to write an article a day. I pushed aside all other plans to give Medium and the craft of writing a good chance. I know I owe it to myself and to my senior high English teacher. I even enrolled in new writing programs including Jon Brosio’s tribeloyal, as a way of moral, mental, and skill support for myself.

And as the end of March draws near, I utterly failed. Not only did I not even hit a quarter of the target, but my creativity flow also stunted. It feels like I am inundated by waves of other people’s creative voices as I researched for more material.

I had 6 articles published, 1 Haiku prompt to my surprise (thanks Toya and Lucy for the invites), and 1 pending acceptance to a new publication. My drafts are all over the place, from paper to digital notes and even Post-it notes on my wall.

Photo: By Author — Snippet of her Post-It Notes during a creative block

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein

This is when the skill of preservation from my competitive days comes in handy. As an ex-athlete, I know that this sort of rut happens to the best of us. And when it happens, there are usually two ways going around it —

One, relentless stick with the practice, show up and do the work. Two, find radically new ways to shake things up, no excuses allowed.

Why radical? Because I have tried the usual tips of moving my body with exercises and walking, putting on earbuds listening to music, organizing my idea-collecting routine, but none of these have worked effectively for me yet, perhaps.

So with all that said, heeding the advice of Einstein, without pushing oneself to insanity, how can we radically get our mind and fingers past the writer’s block and start producing our curated pieces again?

1) Move, baby, move and go upside down.

Most articles on pushing past writer’s block usually suggest going for a movement break, like a stretch or a walk. It works most times but sometimes we can do that with a creative twist.

May I suggest a challenging move — go head upside down! Try a handstand if you can. If not, do a handstand against the wall, or with feet on the bed or a stool for additional support. Anything to go upside down.

That blood flow gushing to the head, and also looking the world upside down, actually stimulates your vestibular system in a new way. This can also help to change your perspective in your writing too, metamorphically and figuratively speaking too.

When in the “funk”, see the world in a different light.

2) Write in chunks

I am not a writing coach here, but reading a few writing articles by Ayodeji Awosika, has given me an idea of this. Instead of trying to write in a continuous flow. Write in series of blocks.

Aim to have each block or paragraph to make a point. Don’t bother about whether the blocks are connecting yet, you can do that after you are done with the blocks. Also, don’t focus so much on forcing them to connect as well.

In short, write in sections A, B, C. Sequence them later, maybe it will be B, C, A.

3) Take a really cold shower.

Sometimes when you are hitting a creative block, you can feel pretty stressed out and the more stressed you are, the worst it can do to your writing process, focus, concentration, and creative output.

Taking a cold shower may really help to get past the stress accumulated from hitting that creative wall as temporal exposure to a lower external temperature helps to stimulate the vagus nerve. And if you are familiar with the Wim Hof Breathing Method, you could incorporate that too if you like.

Science has repeatedly shown the positive effects of the quick succession of cold stimulation on the parasympathetic nervous system, heart rate, and heart rate variability (HRV), suggesting that cold stimulation such as taking a cold shower can promote relaxation and stress reduction.

I suppose this is why so many creative entrepreneurs and artists love living by the waters because when they get stuck in a rut, they can run out to the ocean for a quick surf or dip!

4) Sing your hearts out.

Human beings can be such vain creatures who love to talk about themselves. Being vocal makes them feel better and helps get their focus back. Similarly, when you see a group photo, who do you first look for in the picture? Be honest. Yourself!

For some writers, they are after that spotlight where their articles or names be featured on big publishers, whether is it for vanity or monetary reasons.

Yet for some of us writers, the more motivating reason in writing is more to do with being “heard”. We want our voices to be heard or our stories to be read to educate and awaken others, just like the works of Anon Gray and Shannon Ashley.

Either way, it’s a form of vocal expression. Singing, in a way, is a form of achieving that. If you feel you can’t sing, then just hum a tune like Snow White did as she swept the floor. Do try to stick to no more than 2 songs before it turns into a karaoke session.

5) Drum like a monk.

Occasionally, mindfulness meditation may not work too well yet for a handful of us. Incorporating our kinesthetic sense may assist us to get into that flow state.

Try tapping on a stack of books with a small or short stick to a metronome’s slow rhythmic beat can help get the attention back into a form of an active mindful state. Do this anywhere between 5–10 minutes until you feel a certain flow back.

If you don’t have access to an actual metronome, download an app. Soundcorset works well for me and it’s free.

6) Laugh till you drop

As mentioned above, the whole writer’s block can be pretty stressful to our mind and body. Laughing can be a great way to get our minds away from trying too hard to work past that block and act as a stress buffer for better mental health too.

Watch a short 10–15min comedy is a great way to do that, not anything too long as you don’t want to be too distracted from actually writing something.

7) Just word vomit till you get it all out.

“It’s much easier to vomit words on the page, it’s harder to spit out polished prose.” — Ryan Holiday

There comes a moment that sometimes all you need is a moment to “purge” or release all the word clutters and word clouds in your head. And when you don’t write your drafts out, your inner critic can start to show up and further slow you down. You may start to question if your articles are good enough, overthink and overanalyze the entire piece repeatedly.

“Word vomit” can be a great way to interject this mental state and help you move past the wall, even Julia Cameron, the author of Morning Pages recently shared this trick she used too.

The focus isn’t so much on hitting publish, but to actually write all the ideas out on paper until the writer’s flow is back because respectfully, we all want to do justice to editors by producing top quality work, and morally cannot submit sub-par excellent articles.

Parting Thoughts

These 7 tricks I experimented with over the past month have been quite helpful for me to break that writer’s wall down.

Try a new movement, like a supported handstand
Write in chunks, sequence them later
Take a cold shower, lower your stress
Sing your hearts out, hear your own voice
Drum like a monk, get the mind into a rhythm
Watch a super short comedy and laugh till you drop
Word vomit till all is out, famous writers do this too

And if all else fails, know that writers’ blocks come and go. Ask any creative entrepreneur, artist, or athlete. Be kind to yourself. Bite the bullet, work through the writing, with whatever number of words or articles you can.

Sometimes publishing 10 less-than-perfect decent articles will bring you finally back on track to that one masterpiece before the next few come along effortlessly. It is really all about consistently practicing that writing muscle to find your voice. (Thanks Breneth Edwards for this piece)

Hello there, Thanks for reading. I am honored and grateful for your time. I don’t claim to know everything, but I will always strive to share every single bit of truth with thought and humility.

If you like to read more of my stories and be inspired along the way, Let’s connect. One real story at a time, one practical move at a time.