{"id":979995,"date":"2026-07-07T15:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=979995"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:12:00","slug":"six-ways-to-smash-writers-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;something which is&nbsp;horribly familiar&nbsp;to all us writers: the&nbsp;empty&nbsp;laptop&nbsp;screen, the&nbsp;blank&nbsp;notebook&nbsp;page,&nbsp;the grim&nbsp;sensation&nbsp;that after keeping a day free&nbsp;especially&nbsp;for writing, nothing is&nbsp;coming&nbsp;out\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What causes\u00a0writer\u2019s\u00a0block, and how\u00a0do\u00a0we\u00a0get\u00a0through it?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some tried and tested techniques.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Try freewriting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is described by&nbsp;<em>psychologytoday.com<\/em>&nbsp;as \u2018a technique in which writers generate spontaneous, unstructured content\u2019.&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;translate this&nbsp;as:&nbsp;write for the joy of it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Freewriting&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;like automatic writing,&nbsp;where you let stream-of-consciousness prose flow&nbsp;from&nbsp;your fingertips&nbsp;in an unstructured tide of words.&nbsp;You can&nbsp;link&nbsp;freewriting&nbsp;to the project&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;stalled&nbsp;on.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Invent&nbsp;a random scene in which you choose a character and write for fun,&nbsp;just&nbsp;to see what happens. No rules, no pre-imposed structure, no tailored conclusion.&nbsp;It&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;matter if your character&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;yet&nbsp;have a role in&nbsp;the novel or short story&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;working on.&nbsp;It&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;matter if the scene is set in a random place&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;selected&nbsp;for its novelty value.&nbsp;Writing for the&nbsp;joy of it&nbsp;will reconnect you with why you started all this in the first place.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does it work? Yes!&nbsp;While&nbsp;working on my debut novel,&nbsp;I&nbsp;had regular blockages when the story just&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t&nbsp;come out. So, I experimented with freewriting&nbsp;in a series of \u2018test&nbsp;scenes\u2019.&nbsp;The&nbsp;characters and scenarios&nbsp;I chose for freewriting&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;all&nbsp;make the final cut&nbsp;of my novel, but I had so much fun crafting&nbsp;a&nbsp;dark futuristic environment,&nbsp;with its&nbsp;gothic&nbsp;basement clubs and&nbsp;its&nbsp;hybrid characters,&nbsp;that it put me back on the&nbsp;rails&nbsp;again.&nbsp;A couple of pages&nbsp;in,&nbsp;and&nbsp;I was&nbsp;reminded why I love doing what I do.&nbsp;Eventually, I was back on track,&nbsp;writing scenes&nbsp;that&nbsp;<em>did&nbsp;<\/em>make&nbsp;the final cut.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Reconsider your writing environment<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;study by Kaempfer &amp; Vos (2019) revealed that if you have a&nbsp;familiar place and a regular&nbsp;habit attached to your writing, it does indeed boost creativity.&nbsp;The&nbsp;brain&nbsp;recognises&nbsp;cues&nbsp;indicating&nbsp;that&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;now&nbsp;time to work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;a coffee at your kitchen table,&nbsp;or a&nbsp;walk in the park before you sit down to write,&nbsp;any routine or ritual&nbsp;can help. My first two novels were written and edited in&nbsp;children\u2019s&nbsp;soft play areas surrounded by&nbsp;noisy kids and&nbsp;piped music. I look back now and&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;know how I did it,&nbsp;but my brain knew&nbsp;that&nbsp;my best&nbsp;opportunity&nbsp;to write was&nbsp;when the kids were occupied.&nbsp;Noisy soft play areas built themselves into&nbsp;my own writing ritual&nbsp;for several years.&nbsp;Now my kids are teens, that&nbsp;landscape has changed \u2013 and I&nbsp;couldn\u2019t&nbsp;write in a&nbsp;play-zone&nbsp;if I tried!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, I have different writing rituals:&nbsp;making a cup of herbal tea, taking out a specific notebook&nbsp;and a specific ink pen&nbsp;filled with bottle ink, and then sitting in peace and quiet for five minutes before opening my&nbsp;laptop.&nbsp;Making&nbsp;sure the cats are fed&nbsp;(so that I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;get harassed)&nbsp;is&nbsp;an essential&nbsp;part of the&nbsp;ritual.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have a friend who does yoga on&nbsp;her&nbsp;writing mornings, and another who does a park run&nbsp;first. It can&nbsp;literally be&nbsp;anything which&nbsp;gives you a sense of routine&nbsp;and prepares the brain for the creative work to follow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Focus on&nbsp;plot<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you hit a brick wall and feel you&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;progress,&nbsp;this might&nbsp;relate to plot. Sometimes, our creative mind knows before&nbsp;our conscious mind&nbsp;that something&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;quite&nbsp;right, and it stalls us.&nbsp;Perhaps you&nbsp;need to revisit&nbsp;the backbone of your&nbsp;story.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take&nbsp;a break and think about it.&nbsp;Are you writing a random genre mash&nbsp;which instinct tells you is a bit too&nbsp;off-the-wall&nbsp;to be truly&nbsp;viable? Is your novel&nbsp;heavily&nbsp;influenced by&nbsp;film and TV, and have you&nbsp;realised&nbsp;this might not be the best way&nbsp;forward? Is your&nbsp;antagonist not&nbsp;powerful enough yet? Does your protagonist&nbsp;not yet have a proper quest? Any of&nbsp;these things can create a&nbsp;mental&nbsp;brick wall.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what&nbsp;to&nbsp;do about it?&nbsp;Fortunately,&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;plenty of advice&nbsp;at&nbsp;Jericho to help you tease out these concerns and&nbsp;look at your project from a multitude of angles.&nbsp;Once&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;recognised&nbsp;the problem, everything starts to make sense.&nbsp;Why not put your novel&nbsp;in a nutshell&nbsp;by writing a one or two sentence premise,&nbsp;to&nbsp;consolidate&nbsp;the core heartbeat of the story?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Create&nbsp;a&nbsp;work&nbsp;plan<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With no work plan,&nbsp;writing&nbsp;a novel&nbsp;can seem&nbsp;like a huge task. This&nbsp;can&nbsp;lead to&nbsp;stalling,&nbsp;as you wonder where to start and how&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;ever going to conquer it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minimize the overwhelm&nbsp;by&nbsp;creating a work plan.&nbsp;The&nbsp;maths&nbsp;suggests&nbsp;that a&nbsp;novel&nbsp;of&nbsp;80,000 words&nbsp;equates to&nbsp;around 1,500&nbsp;words a week&nbsp;if your goal is to finish a draft in a year.&nbsp;If you want to write&nbsp;a&nbsp;draft over two&nbsp;years, the weekly wordcount&nbsp;reduces&nbsp;to&nbsp;770 words.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A novel for younger readers&nbsp;(say, 50,000 words)&nbsp;equates to&nbsp;960&nbsp;words a week&nbsp;in a year, or&nbsp;480 words a week&nbsp;over&nbsp;two years.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;a pacing trick&nbsp;that&nbsp;works&nbsp;a treat&nbsp;because suddenly, the wordcount looks a little bit&nbsp;less daunting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Read!&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a reading break.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;amazing how&nbsp;reading (or listening to)&nbsp;any genre of novel can&nbsp;bubble away in your creative&nbsp;subconscious and&nbsp;inspire you to add a&nbsp;new&nbsp;facet&nbsp;to your own story.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bonus is that for us writers,&nbsp;reading&nbsp;is&nbsp;a \u2018working break\u2019&nbsp;rather than&nbsp;an excuse not to get started.&nbsp;Read&nbsp;outside&nbsp;your comfort zone, too.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;amazing&nbsp;where this might lead in terms of ideas, word&nbsp;choices&nbsp;and prose style.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. Be kind to yourself&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;as&nbsp;normal for us writers to work in fits and starts as it is to write religiously for a set time&nbsp;every day.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;also normal to swap between the two.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just because&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;created a work schedule&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;mean to say you&nbsp;aren\u2019t&nbsp;allowed to&nbsp;shift it&nbsp;around,&nbsp;or&nbsp;take time out&nbsp;if life gets in the way. It happens.&nbsp;Just know you&nbsp;aren\u2019t&nbsp;alone.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy writing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Want more from Liz? Apply now for a place in her tutor group on the next <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/creative-writing-courses\/ultimate-novel-writing-programme\/\">Ultimate Novel Writing\u00a0Programme<\/a> intake or book a\u00a020 minute one-to-one mentoring session with her for just \u00a320. These are the perfect\u00a0way\u00a0to sense-check your story idea,\u00a0ensure\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0worth investing in and road-test whether working with Liz for a longer period\u00a0is right for you. If you go on\u00a0to study or book more mentoring with us, the cost of this\u00a0session will be credited back to you.\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Want to find out more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme or apply for the next course?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/zfrmz.eu\/ZREOGPEGEHSkWrnVxEgK\">Let us know<\/a>\u00a0and we\u2019ll send some helpful information direct to your inbox.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;something which is&nbsp;horribly familiar&nbsp;to all us writers: the&nbsp;empty&nbsp;laptop&nbsp;screen, the&nbsp;blank&nbsp;notebook&nbsp;page,&nbsp;the grim&nbsp;sensation&nbsp;that after keeping a day free&nbsp;especially&nbsp;for writing, nothing is&nbsp;coming&nbsp;out\u2026&nbsp; What causes\u00a0writer\u2019s\u00a0block, and how\u00a0do\u00a0we\u00a0get\u00a0through it?\u00a0 Here are some tried and tested techniques.\u00a0 1. Try freewriting This is described by&nbsp;psychologytoday.com&nbsp;as \u2018a technique in which writers generate spontaneous, unstructured content\u2019.&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;translate this&nbsp;as:&nbsp;write for the joy of it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Freewriting&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;like automatic writing,&nbsp;where<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27807,"featured_media":781391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[29263,337,29371,29278],"class_list":["post-979995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novel-writing","tag-ultimate-novel-wriiting-programme","tag-writers-block","tag-writing-inspiration","tag-writing-routine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0 &#8211; Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s&nbsp;something which is&nbsp;horribly familiar&nbsp;to all us writers: the&nbsp;empty&nbsp;laptop&nbsp;screen, the&nbsp;blank&nbsp;notebook&nbsp;page,&nbsp;the grim&nbsp;sensation&nbsp;that after keeping a day free&nbsp;especially&nbsp;for writing, nothing is&nbsp;coming&nbsp;out\u2026&nbsp; What causes\u00a0writer\u2019s\u00a0block, and how\u00a0do\u00a0we\u00a0get\u00a0through it?\u00a0 Here are some tried and tested techniques.\u00a0 1. Try freewriting This is described by&nbsp;psychologytoday.com&nbsp;as \u2018a technique in which writers generate spontaneous, unstructured content\u2019.&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;translate this&nbsp;as:&nbsp;write for the joy of it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Freewriting&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;like automatic writing,&nbsp;where\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T14:07:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T14:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liz-Monument-mentor-and-tutor-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Mitchell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Mitchell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Mitchell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c425d3a567c6fc0f51635135de2785d9\"},\"headline\":\"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T14:07:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-07T14:12:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1501,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Liz-Monument-mentor-and-tutor-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"ultimate novel wriiting programme\",\"Writer's Block\",\"Writing Inspiration\",\"writing routine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Novel writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\\\/\",\"name\":\"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0 &#8211; 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Try freewriting This is described by&nbsp;psychologytoday.com&nbsp;as \u2018a technique in which writers generate spontaneous, unstructured content\u2019.&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;translate this&nbsp;as:&nbsp;write for the joy of it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Freewriting&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;like automatic writing,&nbsp;where","og_url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/","og_site_name":"Jericho Writers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters","article_published_time":"2026-07-07T14:07:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-07T14:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":475,"url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liz-Monument-mentor-and-tutor-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Emily Mitchell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_site":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Mitchell","Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Mitchell","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c425d3a567c6fc0f51635135de2785d9"},"headline":"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-07-07T14:07:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-07T14:12:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/"},"wordCount":1501,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liz-Monument-mentor-and-tutor-1.png","keywords":["ultimate novel wriiting programme","Writer's Block","Writing Inspiration","writing routine"],"articleSection":["Novel writing"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/six-ways-to-smash-writers-block\/","name":"Six Ways to Smash Writer\u2019s\u00a0Block\u00a0 &#8211; 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