There are few worse feelings to a writer than getting stuck.
I’m sure you’ve been there. You carve away time to write. You arrive at your desk with your steamy cup of coffee. You even successfully resist the pull of Twitter (my greatest writing distraction).
And just when you get in the groove, you’re suddenly at a loss for words. You can’t get the ideas down because they’re just not coming. The cursor blinks and blinks—is it taunting you?! You better believe it is.
Haley Nahman, one of my favorite culture writers, wrote about this feeling in a recent issue of her newsletter. After spending 15 hours toiling over an essay, scrapping it, then returning to it another day (only to write it much better in just five hours), she realized that getting un-stuck after a long bout of stuck-ness made her wish for a sense of consistency in her process:
“Nothing was flowing, but wasn’t that how writing worked sometimes? Didn’t I say just a few weeks ago that you have to push through the hard part? I was definitely pushing.”
When it feels like you’re wrestling your words to the page, pushing through doesn’t always work. Here are my recommendations for getting un-stuck when your words aren’t falling into place.
Take it to a notebook. When you’re writing on a computer, the work has a way of looking more finished than it actually is. So instead of forcing yourself to stay put with that evil cursor, crack open a notebook and click your pen. Move far away from your computer—an entirely different room is ideal—and face the problem on a fresh page. A notebook gives me more freedom to sprawl and experiment (and keeps me from smashing my laptop into ten trillion pieces).
Write to a writer friend. Whenever I’m having trouble with something I’m writing, explaining that problem in an email to a friend always does the trick. And here’s the wild part—most of the time, I don’t even send the email! Simply outlining my problem for someone I trust usually gives me an idea to solve it.
Set a timer and write for 10 minutes without stopping. I always underestimate the power of freewriting, but every time I do it, it makes me aware of how much the urge to edit restrains me. Peter Elbow writes that regularly-practiced freewriting “undoes the ingrained habit of editing at the same time you are trying to produce.” Whenever I freewrite, I’m amazed at what emerges when I simply focus on putting one word after another.
When all else fails, distance yourself from what you’re writing. At the moment, I’m in an accountability program with Chelsea Hodson, who touts the importance of letting your mind wander. And I agree with her—I’ve found that great ideas can emerge from my subconscious once I give my brain a little breathing room. It can be difficult to trust that I’m staying “productive” in my writing when I’m not writing at all, but sometimes, distance is exactly what the writing needs from me.
But Let’s Ask Another Writer
I met Nikesha Elise Williams through the writing community in Jacksonville, FL and her work never ceases to impress me. Her novel, Four Women, was awarded the 2018 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Award and was recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists as an Outstanding Literary Work. Her writing has also appeared in VOX, Eater, and ESSENCE.
Since Nikesha is a seasoned writer, I knew she’d have a lot of wisdom to share about getting un-stuck on the page.
Tell us about a time you felt stuck in your writing and how you got un-stuck.
I'm not sure if I'm ever stuck, like writer's-block stuck, because I write from an outline, and I know exactly where the story is going (for the most part). However, sometimes I get extremely doubtful or even despondent when I'm in the middle of a project; the point where I’ve come too far to quit, but not quite far enough to see that the end is near. In these moments, I keep writing. If I don't figure it out along the way the first time (like I did with the ending for The Appeal of Ebony Jones), I know I can fix it in the second (or third or fourth) draft. The first draft needs to exist so that the final product can be manifested.
Much of your writing derives from real news events. Do current events usually kick off what you’re writing, or does turning to the news help you locate inspiration when you’re stuck?
Sometimes the news kicks off the entire project, like with Four Women, The Appeal of Ebony Jones, or Beyond Bourbon Street, and sometimes it provides another way into the characters’ lives, such as with the sub-plot in Love Never Fails, or the various commentary in Adulting. News has been such a big part of my life and the journalist in me is always aware and watching. Writing current events into fiction allows me to express various points of view through my characters instead of necessarily from my own mouth.
You finished the first draft of your most recent novel, The Appeal of Ebony Jones, in just two months. Do you feel like working at this fast pace kept you from getting stuck while you wrote?
I wrote The Appeal of Ebony Jones in 2018. That year I intentionally wrote three novels so that my 2019 would be focused on releasing, promoting, and building my platform as an author. There was an intense amount of pressure when I wrote The Appeal because Four Women had come out six weeks earlier and ended with a major cliffhanger. I never intended to write a sequel, but was convinced to do so. I didn't have time to get stuck because not only did I write it in 2018—it came out that August. I was very wary about its release because of how fast the process was, but from what I've been told, readers like it better than the first book, which is a high compliment for a sequel.
What tips do you have for writers to get un-stuck when they’re stuck?
Write through it or walk away. If a scene or a chapter or even a phrase is not working for you and you have the energy to push through it, do so, even if you think it's trash. If it's still not working, walk away for a while. Take a nap (my preferred method), exercise, eat, watch TV—just do something to truly take your mind away from the work and then come back to it with relaxed, fresh eyes, and maybe even a drink. Taking this pause allows you to reset your creativity and approach whatever's irking you from a less-stressed point of you. You'll find that what you have may not be as trash as you think it is, and at the very least you can salvage something and roll into something mo' betta.
When she’s not busy writing three novels in one year (holy crap, that’s fast!), Nikesha is on Twitter and Instagram. Buy her award-winning novel Four Women, and the sequel, The Appeal of Ebony Jones!
How do you get un-stuck on the page?
I asked a handful of fellow writers what they do when they’re stuck in their writing. Here’s what they told me.
“Write down all the things I’m thinking about, then break down my writing into micro tasks that I can accomplish (and check off the list! Yay!).” —Sarah
“I usually call my best friend and tell her about what I'm working on. If I'm having difficulty summarizing my poem/story to her, then that shows me what I need to work on. Plus, her questions and comments give me insight that I wouldn't have otherwise realized agonizing in front of my Word doc.” —Shan
“Sometimes I can find a way through, but if I find myself getting angry at myself, I try to step away from the page. Usually, when I come back, the answer is right where I left it.” —Jessica
Want to be included in a future issue of Lonely Victories? Answer some questions on upcoming topics and I may include your response!
Really Digging This
Here’s what I’ve been reading and loving lately.
Social isolation + feeling constantly hangry = cooking a lot more than usual. Lately, I’ve been in the headspace to read a cookbook—a genre I never gravitate toward.
I’m FINALLY coming around to reading Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking and it’s taught me tons. If you’re late to the party like I am, I urge you to jump on this book. Your cooking will thank you (because you’re probably under-salting literally everything like I was).
Samin’s podcast about cooking during quarantine, Home Cooking, is also an absolute delight.
(Also, if writing this newsletter has taught me anything, it’s how much I love Spongebob gifs.)
Tell me about your lonely victories!
“Finished and submitted several essays after years of being convinced I couldn't write short-form work.” —Caitlin
“My poetry book Crater & Tower is being published ten years after I began the project.” —Cheryl
What’s a lonely victory you’ve had in your writing process recently? Tell me all about it here!
Some Very Good News
Holy toledo, I won a grant!!!!!!!
The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida is very generously helping me finish my novel and hire an editor later this year.
I couldn’t be more excited or grateful. This grant is an enormous gift, and knowing that an organization in my own hometown believes in me enough to invest in my work makes me believe in my writing even more. When they called with the good news, I was so surprised I cried into the phone (#professional).
Liked this newsletter? You have excellent taste. Please consider sharing it with a wordsmith friend or two!
Lonely Victories is a Bookshop.org affiliate. Every time you shop the newsletter, you’re supporting my work!
Did you know that I’m available for hire for all your editing and copywriting needs? Learn more here.
Special thanks to Aysha Miskin for the illustrations + banner and to Becca Wucker for editing this newsletter.
“Writing alone can give you a very deep sense of satisfaction and lonely victory.” —Greta Gerwig