Writer's block is when the words won't come, even though you're sitting there wanting them to. It feels like you've run out of ideas. Research suggests that feeling often misleads you: people underestimate how much more they'll come up with if they keep going, because creative thinking feels sluggish even when it's working.
That doesn't mean you should always push through. A break helps too, but it works best after you've put real work into the text, and when you spend the break doing something simple rather than something demanding. That gives you an order to follow: keep going a little longer first, then take the right kind of break, and come back with something concrete to start with.
Choose your path based on what's stopping you:
- If you don't know what to write: write what you know, in the wrong order.
- If everything you write feels bad: write for ten minutes without rereading.
- If you've been stuck for a long time: set it aside and go for a walk.
- If you haven't started: write one sentence, not a whole piece.
A first step today: the next time you get stuck, keep going for ten more minutes before you get up, even if what comes out is bad.
Writer's block is when the words won't come, even though you're sitting there wanting them to. It feels like you've run out of ideas. Research suggests that feeling often misleads you: feeling stuck is usually a sign that something is hard, not that you've run dry. But there's also a point where a break helps more than pushing on. This article walks through the difference and gives you four paths depending on what's stopping you.
Feeling stuck doesn't mean you're out of ideas
In 2015, across seven studies, Lucas and Nordgren showed that people working on creative tasks misjudge themselves. They believe they've already come up with most of what they have, and they underestimate how much more will come if they stick with it. What fooled them was the sluggishness: when things move slowly, it feels like the well has run dry, even when it hasn't.
In a new series of studies in 2020, the same researchers asked how people think creativity changes over the course of a work session. Most believed ideas get worse the longer you keep at it. In reality, the ideas stayed at the same level or got better. People who believed in the decline gave up sooner and performed worse. You can read more about these studies in the guide to creative discipline.
If you write, this means the first feeling of being stuck isn't a reason to get up. It often comes right before something better.
When a break actually helps
Sometimes setting the text aside is still the right call. In 2009, Sio and Ormerod reviewed the research on stepping away from a problem and coming back to it later. It helped, but most after a long period of preparation: the more work people had put in beforehand, the more the break paid off. And what they did during the break mattered. Demanding tasks during the break produced a smaller effect.
So a break doesn't work as an escape after five minutes. It works as the next step after you've given the text a real chance. And it works best if you do something that lets your mind wander, like walking, washing dishes or taking a shower, instead of switching over to your email. Why ideas so often show up at exactly those moments is covered in getting ideas.
- Keep going a little longer Ten minutes, even if what comes out is bad.
- Still stuck? Set the text aside. You've given it a chance.
- Do something simple Walk or wash the dishes, and let your mind wander.
- Come back Start with a single sentence, not the whole piece.
Three common causes
Writer's block isn't one single thing. Three situations are common, and they have different solutions.
The first is that you don't know what the next step is. The piece is too big to see as a whole, and you don't know where to begin. The second is that you know what you want to say, but everything you write feels bad, so you delete it before it has a chance to become anything. The third is that you're empty, after a long stretch with the same text or a period with little rest. These come from writing experience, not research findings, but they point to which of the paths below fits you.
Four paths, depending on what's stopping you
If you don't know what to write. For when you're facing a blank page and a big task. Write what you already know, in any order, as bullet points or loose sentences. The order can come later. First step: today, write down five things you know the piece needs to include.
If everything you write feels bad. For when your inner critic deletes everything. Write for ten minutes without stopping, erasing or rereading. Most of it won't be good, and it isn't supposed to be. First step: set a timer for ten minutes and write without looking back.
If you've been stuck for a long time. For when you've been stuck on the same spot for hours or days. You've done the preparation, and now it's time for the break. Set the text aside and go for a walk. First step: take a twenty-minute walk today without listening to anything.
If you haven't started. For when you've been putting off even sitting down. This is the most demanding path, because there's nothing to keep going on. Make the task so small you can't say no to it: a single sentence. First step: write one sentence today, and stop there if you want.
A first step today: the next time you get stuck, keep going for ten more minutes before you get up, even if what comes out is bad.
This is the understanding and a first step. Atlas is where it becomes a habit. If you add Creative discipline as an area of its own, you'll find Write without stopping, Idea catcher and This week's project there as suggestions to make your own, so you can see over the weeks how often it actually happened. Try Atlas free for 7 days, and cancel whenever you like.