WTF do I do about writer’s block?

Okay, first thing: take a deep breath and relax. This is actually pretty good advice for any problem you might be having.

It doesn’t actually solve anything, per se, but it helps you feel better while trying to find the solution.

Now. What can you actually do if you’re suffering from writer’s block? Despite what some people say, it’s a real thing. And it’s frustrating as hell. Well, it turns out there are a lot of things you can do, and following are some great ideas from writers and thinkers from all over.

Create Time Daily for Writing

For me, it was simply to create time daily for writing. I set the intention not to let it become a chore or “another thing to get done” but more of an opportunity to play and expand.

I was very firm about not editing anything but keeping writing, even if it was awful. Somehow, deep inside, I knew that getting the awful out of the way cleared space for the magical and inspiring. I literally did not edit one word while writing my first draft over six months, not one word.

I rarely read what I wrote the day before except to determine where and what I left off. I allowed myself plenty of space to let it pour out without paying attention to quality, structure, or anything else.

There were a few points at which I became a little bored and flat, but I kept my commitment to writing without a filter. It was not long before something of interest emerged.

Sometimes, to add some energy to it, I would set a timer for a short chunk of time, like twenty minutes, to keep writing without stopping no matter what, and that was all I did that day. Other times, I would make an internal agreement to do something fun after my writing session to get me engaged.

Michael Swerdloff, Counselor, Coach and Reiki Master, Providence Holistic Counselor, Coach and Reiki

Focus on Small Goals

Writer’s block often comes from overthinking or setting unrealistic expectations. A helpful attitude for me was a shift in focus onto small goals and not waiting for perfection. For example, I once struggled to finish an article because I wanted every sentence to be perfect. Instead, I decided to just write 100 quick words, without caring if they are good. That momentum made the rest easier, and I ended up rewriting less than I thought.

Another trick is to treat writing as habit, not inspiration. Commit to writing at the same time daily, even if it’s just a paragraph. It’s like brushing your teeth-small, consistent efforts add up. And remember, bad drafts lead to good ideas. Stop judging your work mid-process; trust you’ll refine it later.

Elisa Branda, Founder & CEO, NuvolediBellezza

Embrace Imperfection

One piece of advice I’d give is to focus on the process, not the result. When I hit a wall, I remind myself that not every word needs to be perfect right away. For example, I’ve set a timer for 15 minutes and written without overthinking, even if it’s just messy ideas. The key is to keep the momentum going, knowing that I can always revise later. Shifting my mindset to embrace imperfection has helped me stay motivated and push through the toughest creative blocks. My tip: focus on writing, not on making it perfect.

Adnan Jiwani, Assistant Manager Digital Marketing, PureVPN

Use AI Tools for Writing

Writers, if you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace AI. The current tools on the market have finally reached a point where we, as travel writers, are experiencing significant improvements in ideation, editing, and output.

One of the worst feelings as a writer is to sit in your chair staring at the blinking cursor. Where do you start? In the age of AI, give ChatGPT a seed idea and ask it to brainstorm topics. It helps to give it some information about your target audience as well.

Or, simply start a dialogue. Tell it who you are and what you’re trying to do, and it will ask you questions to draw out ideas. Before you know it, you and your ‘assistant’ are working together to find the gold.

That’s ideation, but what about taking something you’ve written to the next level? We prefer Claude AI here. We built a prompt based on digital writing best practices and ask the tool to audit our draft against them. It will provide recommendations and even suggestions for additional content.

This ‘editor’ helps us fill gaps and gives us that extra push to take our content depth, usefulness, and value further, which helps it perform better in the long run.

Our final writing tip is to not write at all.

Claude AI can take in a recording of up to 10 minutes, and sometimes after we’ve taken a trip, the best way to get that content out is to not write at all. Instead, we hit record and talk about it, and prompt the tool to format the conversation into a blog post.

This has dramatically increased the amount of content we are producing, since some scenarios favor conversation rather than writing.

Embracing AI and, more importantly, using it the right way – not to create but to enhance our creations – has helped us quickly and easily overcome writer’s block through ideation and stay motivated from knowing we always have a partner who can help us get unstuck and take our unique work to new heights.

Brian Gorman, Owner, BrianShio

Treat Writing Like a Job

Treat it like a job.

So many writers have the notion that you need to be inspired or motivated before you start filling the screen with words. You don’t.

It’s the activity you put in, the words you crank out when you’re feeling unmotivated that allow you to find motivation.

I know, it sounds counterintuitive but it works.

Here are a few exercises I do when I’m feeling unmotivated. It works 9/10 times.

The first thing I do is journal. I just write my thoughts and observations about my environment or my life down.

The key here is to let your thoughts flow. If you want to write about the shape of your window it’s fine. If you want to write about the breakfast you ate in the morning or how you were feeling when you woke up, it’s also fine.

I’ve found that writing this way without expectations reduces tension and gets me into a writing mood.

The second exercise I do is walking. These are short leisurely walks in a park. I’m not trying to break a sweat or exert myself.

I believe this helps because it’s a change of environment and I get to allow my subconscious to mull over the writing task while I’m actively disengaged with it.

By the time I sit back down at my desk, I’m ready to go.

Felix Yim, CoFounder and Marketing Director Humanize AI, Humanize AI

Write Every Day

As the author of nine published books and countless booklets and poems, I encourage aspiring writers to (like the Nike slogan) just do it! Write every day. Don’t put pressure upon yourself for a time frame, but write something…anything! Keep your creative juices flowing. The entire world is material, so look at everything you do, see, watch, and hear as potential material. You will be amazed at what strikes you when you view the world from a writer’s eye. It’s the difference between riding in a car and watching the scenery go by and being on a motorcycle…you are IN the scenery…smelling and feeling it.

Lastly, perfectionism will kill your creative spirit. Yes, we must be accurate with good grammar, but the creative writing process is not the time to worry about it. Let it flow and don’t judge it. Know that as a writer, some of what you create is just for you, and every once in a while, something magnificent comes together that will touch others. Should you ever get writer’s block, start this process over by just doing it!

Lorraine Bossé-Smith, Chief Solutions Officer, Concept One LLC

Repurpose Previous Work

As an aspiring writer, you need to write everything and anything. The motivation has to come from whatever your goal is–if you want to be a writer, then write. Any writing you do is refining your skills and helping you hone your creativity. None of it’s wasted.

Consider the etymology of “inspire”: you’re breathing life into the words on the page every time you write. An activity that I take writers through is helping them repurpose their previous work. If you’re experiencing writer’s block, you may feel like you don’t have the spark to write right now. Go back to things you created in the past and put a different spin on it.

You may be trying to reinvent the wheel when there may still be something valuable that you can pull from work you’ve already done.

Write, writer!

Sheryl Landry, Founder, The Infinity Initiative

Focus on Your Reader

Always focus on your reader and their needs and desires. You have the power to help them – to inform, advise, support or empower them with your words. If you visualise them clearly you can speak to them directly as you write, just as you would speak to them sat in front of you. This can help you get a first draft flowing, even if the style and tone needs a thorough edit and review later.

Maya Middlemiss, Freelance writer and speaker, BlockSparks OU

Engage in Different Creative Activities

Take a break! Go put your feet in the grass, go workout, dance – do something that engages your creative energy in a different way. There are times to push through and that tends to be a natural response. But often our cup needs to refill and it doesn’t do that by pushing out more work – it does it by taking the time to rest and recharge. So, if you find yourself struggling, it is time to put the book/the blog/the content down and let yourself find some zen.

Amy Vogel, Author and Women’s Book Coach, AWVogel Publishing

Use Activities to Inspire Writing

I have personally faced writer’s block many times and there are a couple different strategies I’ll use depending on the type of work.

For creative works, I will typically try to do activities which remind me of the character. For example, if the character is a runner, I’ll take the time to run and picture the story playing out as I do so. I also find it helpful to work on other projects or do something else creative, like paint. In my opinion, this gets my mind in a creative mood and can help me break out of task-oriented thinking.

If it’s a research based piece, I’ll typically stick to making an outline as I collect more facts. As I learn more and fit themes together, I will eventually get an idea about what I want to write.

Olivia Chiavegato, Founder, CMO, Head Writer, The Vitallist

Use AI as a Ghostwriter

This is how I would do it in 2024:

  • Have ChatGPT act as a ghostwriter and come up with a laundry list of questions around your topic
  • Answer those questions but dictate your answers instead of writing them down as verbal answers tend to be richer than written ones. Have your answers transcribed. iOS voice memo app can now do it natively.
  • Edit ruthlessly

Adrian Tan, Writer, Adrian Tan

Got Writer’s Block? Maybe we can help.

Mandel Marketing has some answers for you. We do a ton of copywriting, and we can just write it for you. Our CEO, Phillip Scott Mandel, also wrote an entire book about writing, An MFA For Your MBA. Check out a sample chapter and get some inspiration.