Feeling Stuck? Here’s How to Make the Words Flow Again

You’re a cozy 378 words into a draft that feels solid, polished. But, your flow state has dwindled to a trickle and you’re just not sure where to go next. You can’t find the right words. Your outline is there, but…it’s dry and uninspiring.

You stare at the screen. You sip your coffee, or wine. I don’t judge.

Come on ideas. Please flow down my fingers and into the keyboard. We got this!

Even the most seasoned writers have moments of writer’s block. I notice these moments of un-inspiration happen when I’ve been at my desk for several hours straight or if I’m working at odd hours of the day. It’s like my brain is just begging for a break.

Ahhhh, a break. That’s what my brain wants. Well, why don’t I give it that? Because I’m on deadline, you silly mass of nerves and white matter! We. Must. Write.

But, seriously, why do we do this to ourselves? As writers, we often push forward, when we’re tired, to make progress. Thankfully, a silly app on my phone recently reminded me this thinking is just nonsense.

Lessons Come From The Weirdest Places

Last fall I started to have issues with dizziness and brain fog. I’ll skip the long story here, but I decided to start playing word games and doing puzzles to sharpen my word recall and word selection skills.

One of my new favorite pastimes is a word puzzle app on my phone called Word Trip. I’m a bit embarrassed and proud to share that I’m on level 305 and am tackling puzzles that have been solved by 7.45% of players. The higher the level, the lower that percentage goes. I almost stopped at the 12% mark, but I’m no quitter.

One day I was stumped. I stared at those empty boxes and the handful of letters with no clue what could be spelled. I gazed some more, assuming my brain would magically create words. The more I looked, the more progress I should make, right? Ha!

After twenty minutes of frustration, I closed the app and set my phone down. My mind was tired and I was stuck. It felt like a writer’s block moment and I just needed a mental break. So, that’s exactly what I did.