A Little-Known ‘Trick’ That Will Get You Writing Fast When You Feel Stuck

Photo by Bekir Dönmez on Unsplash

It happens all the time to every writer. 

You’re writing and doing great, then all of a sudden, you suffer from ‘brain fog’ and your mind goes blank and you can’t think of what you were going to write next or how you were going to phrase it.

Try as you might, you can’t get back on track because your creative mind is bogged down and seems like it’s switched off for good.

So what should you do?

I learned a little-known trick that works for just about anything for when you get mentally ‘stuck’ and can’t keep going. It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s writing, sorting out cupboards, doing a crossword, planning a vacation, writing a to-do list, or just about anything else. It works for everything.

And strangely enough, I learned it from watching Rugby League games.

Rugby League is a popular sport here in Australia and I watch it all the time, all season long and right up to the Grand Final. I also watch the World Cup when it comes around every 4 years.

And there’s something that I learned from watching these games.

Each match goes for 40 minutes each way, with a 10 minute break in the middle which is when the teams go back into the sheds and sit down while their coach talks to them (or yells at them if they’re losing).

Usually, in the first half, one team will have scored more than the other, and sometimes much more.

But that 10 minute break always, without exception, makes a difference to how they all play in the second half.

Often the winning team will be so far ahead in the first half, that they get complacent and don’t try as hard in the second half and can even end up losing.

Other times, the losing team in the first half will come out strong in the second half and be the only team to score and come out way on top.

The half-time break can also have other effects like the winning team coming out even more revved up, or the losing team coming back out on the field feeling already depleted and hopeless and so lose by far more than they did in the first half.

Rarely, if ever, does that 10 minute break make no difference to how each team plays in the second half.

And having a break is the ‘secret.’

If you’re writing, and you suddenly find yourself struggling to write the next word, take a break. 

It only needs to be a five minute break, but you must get up and move away from your computer. Don’t read and don’t stare at another screen (like your phone).

Move away from your keyboard and do something physical. Something different.

Pat your dog, make a cup of coffee, go to the toilet, stand outside and breathe deeply, do a few stretching exercises, meditate.

Do whatever you want to do, but it needs to be something different to writing. Just like the rugby teams go indoors and sit down on their break, which is completely the opposite to what they were doing when they were playing, you need to do something completely different too, something that doesn’t involve reading or staring at a screen.

And that’s all it takes to have a mind shift, is to shift your mind away from your work for just a few minutes.

Reading this, you probably don’t believe me. But just try it for yourself.

Take regular short breaks from your writing, especially if you’re writing for long stretches of time.

Five minutes is all you need and once you sit back down, you’ll be able to carry on.

Trust me. It works.

The 12 Month Writing Challenge

Write and Publish 12 Books in a Year

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/12MTH.html

Don’t Wait For Your Muse. Just Write.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The hardest part of writing for most writers, is starting. The physical act of walking to our writing chair and sitting down seems like the last thing we want to do some days.

What stops us is fear. We’re scared because we don’t know what to write.

When I’m in the middle of writing a book, and I have a good outline to work from, I’m enthusiastic to sit down and get to work every day. But when I have articles to write, or I have to start mapping out a large writing project, then I’m a lot more reluctant to write.

Horror writer, Stephen King, said that he sits down and writes at the same time every day regardless of how he’s feeling. No matter what, he propels his backside to his writing chair and starts writing straight away.

He says that many would-be and amateur writers believe that they can’t start writing if their muse isn’t there. He also says not to wait for your muse because it won’t turn up for work until you do.

And I’ve noticed that this is how successful writers work. They don’t wait for inspiration to strike or for their muse to show up. They just sit down and start writing.

Novelist, Dean Wesley Smith, takes it a step further. When he sits down to write every day, or should I more correctly say every night because he only works in the evenings, not only does he not wait for his muse to strike, he also has no idea what he’s going to write until he sits down.

He writes by a method he calls “Writing into the dark” where he only knows the bare bones of what he’s going to write. In his book, “Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline” (https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl) he says that when he starts a new novel, all he has in his head is a character, their mood, and a setting. With only those three things he starts writing his first page and from there the ideas flow as he writes. It really is fascinating to read about his thought process.

If you want to sit down and write but don’t know where to start, do a search online for a random word generator, pick 3 words and write for 5 minutes. I’m always amazed at how much I can write in 5 minutes without knowing anything except the 3 words, which I have to use in the first paragraph. It turns out that I can write ⅔ of a page.

Free writing works for both fiction and non-fiction and they are both a lot of fun and it helps to get you into the writing ‘zone’ quickly. 

For non-fiction, choose a random subject and write a list of 10 question you could ask about it. Done well, those 10 questions could become chapter titles for your next book. :)

But however you do it, when you need to write, sit down and do it.

Don’t wait for your muse. It won’t turn up for work until you do.

And most importantly, enjoy writing.

TAKE THE MONTHLY WRITING CHALLENGE

And Write More in 4 Months Than You Ever Have Before

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html

Stop Dreaming and Start Writing

If You Can’t Teach Yourself, You’re a Liability

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Time and time again, people email me for the smallest reasons, usually because they either don’t know how to look something up on the internet themselves, or they just simply can’t be bothered.

Over the past 20+ years, I’ve learned a lot about writing, publishing, coding, and how to earn all my income from my writing. And not once did I email someone and ask them how to do it.

And I honestly believe, that if you are so helpless, that in this age of information you can’t teach yourself what you need to know, then you are your own biggest liability.

Most things are simple to learn and can be learned from the internet. Even if it’s something that looks complicated (like coding), once you start learning, it becomes much clearer and you find that it’s not as complicated as you first thought.

Other things are simple and it only takes a few minutes of searching online to find what  you need.

But if people need to teach you simple things, you’ll always be a liability to yourself.

One of my popular books, Living the Laptop Lifestyle (https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/LLS.html) was written from all the knowledge I gained myself about how to create a website and earn a living online. This book is popular because it makes it quick and easy for anyone to have an online writing business.

And this is one of many books and courses available online that anyone can download without having to ask for help from someone else.

In fact, everything you need to know is available online in one way or another. And much of it is free.

But if you can’t find what you need yourself, you’ll never be successful.

Do whatever it takes to become a successful writer. 

Just don’t expect others to do the work for you.

“If you can’t help yourself, you’re a liability.”

~ Justin Welsh

If you need more help go to https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books.html and find what you need to help you move forward.

Why Aren't I Writing? And What I'm Doing About It

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At the beginning of this year, 2022, I stated that I was going to write and publish a book a month.

I was all hyped and ready back in December 2021, sure that I could fulfill my mission. I had it all planned so what could go wrong?

Life, is what could go wrong.

It's not that I haven't written any books. I've written and published 4 books so far with another almost finished.

My writing plan began to unravel early when, at the beginning of the year, without knowing it was even going to happen, I moved home. 

I originally had no intention of moving, but then property prices skyrocketed, and we stumbled upon a better place to live. So we took advantage of the price increases, put our place on the market, sold it in 3 weeks, and moved. And as we all know, moving can suck your life away in the time spent to organise it all, do the actual move, and then settle into our new place and find our way around the new neighbourhood.

Also a few family issues came up that I had to deal with.

But that's still no excuse for not getting my writing done. I keep telling myself that if I had to go out to work (which I'm SO GRATEFUL that I don't have to) I wouldn't be using all these things as an excuse not to go to work. I'd deal with them and still get to work on time every day.

The problem with working at home, is that I'm at home, so I constantly get distracted. But again, that's no excuse not to get my writing done.

Another thing that happened is that I downloaded a fascinating eBook called "Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline," by one of my favourite authors on writing, Dean Wesley Smith. https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl.

I usually always write with an extensive outline, but after reading his book I decided to try writing without one. DWS said that all you need to know before you start writing, is what genre you're writing in, and have a character and a setting in mind, and then start writing.

I began with one short story and then moved on to do more. At first it felt really strange to not have an outline and to not know what I was going to write until I wrote it.

But do you know what? It's fun. I've been writing quite a few short horror stories with no outline and no idea of what's going to happen in the story until I start writing. Not only is it fun, but it also makes me write fast because I can't afford to stop writing in case I lose the flow of ideas.

I'm not sure if I'd write a whole novel this way, but it sure is fun doing it with short stories. It also taught me that horror stories are my favourite to write. 

Who knows where this will lead me, but I'm having a ball doing it. I should have known that I'd enjoy it because I always love doing those 5-minute writing exercises, where you're given 3 words and you write for 5 minutes without stopping AND use those 3 words in the opening paragraph.

If you want to try it yourself, download your own copy of "Writing into the Dark" and give it a go.

But I digress. I was talking about why I haven't written as many books as I planned to.

The good news is that I'm planning to get back on track. No, I'm GOING to get back on track. I have a new plan and I'm going to work it.

At the same time, I'll still be uploading articles to my website and posts to this blog, and sending out my monthly writing newsletter, which will be hitting my subscribers' inboxes next week. So, if you're not a subscriber, now would be the perfect time to sign up, plus you'll receive a free eBook to help you write more and earn more.

On another positive note, my latest book, "How To Have More Money Now, Even If You’re Struggling To Pay The Rent" is already selling well. Read more about it and grab yourself a copy at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/hthmm.html.

And you should see another book from me soon.

Here's hoping you're getting plenty of your own writing done.