When writing doesn't seem to work

For someone like me who enjoys sitting and writing it can be a challenge when the words just don’t seem to come. Sometimes not writing is because I keep getting distracted on a bunch of other things and that breaks my train of thought, so it takes me longer to get anything achieved and I do get frustrated when that happens. I have found out that there are times when I can just sit and write and lose myself in my writing and then there are times it’s a challenge to even get a few words done. 

Something that I have found sometimes helps me get back to the writing that I want to do is give myself a time limit. This time limit is I need to write for x number of minutes before I can do anything else. I know it sounds a little crazy, but it is amazing how much writing you can achieve when you give yourself that block of time. For me, sometimes it is even 10 or 15 minutes before I can even think of checking email or anything else, but it does work. Quite often that 10 or 15 minutes turns into a lot more writing because I get on a roll and the words then seem to flow. During this block of time, I also try not to think about the punctuation because I can do back after this time and make sure that I have all the commas in the right places.

Another thing that I find helps me get back to the writing level that makes me happy is to put my earplugs in and just let the words flow without all the various sounds around me. I have different earplugs that I use depending on what I want to achieve. I have some earplugs that block out most of the sounds around me and then I have other ones that will block some of the sounds. When it is very windy out, I quite often put the earplugs in just to block out some of the whistling that happens.

When writing doesn’t work it can be a challenge but knowing different things that help you get the writing done that you want to achieve does help. Another thing that I do is change where I am sitting when I am trying to get the writing done because sometimes a different location or a different device makes a big different. I normally do most of my writing on my computer, but I also have my tablet and a keyboard that I use. The different devices can make a difference and sometimes just being away from the multiple screens that I have when at the computer helps a lot.

So, if you are finding that writing doesn’t seem to work maybe try one of these ideas and see if it helps you. I know that these have worked for me and I get back to the writing that I want to do. This entire blog post was written when I was finding it difficult to write so I said 10 minutes and then you can do something else. Well, it was more than 10 minutes, and I was able to get back to writing which makes me happy.

 

Why can't I write

There are so many reasons why I cannot write, and I just need to figure out how to get back to writing like I have done in the past. What I would like to do is document some of the reasons that I cannot write and maybe that will help me get back to writing.

1. I cannot find the time to put the writing as a priority. I know that I have the times to do that but I just don’t give myself permission to do the writing that I want to achieve during a specific amount of time.
2. I have other things that I need to get done. Have you figured out the priority of all the other things and do they need to get done today or can you schedule them for a different day so that you can get them done without destroying your writing time.
3. I cannot figure out to get the writing done that I want to do. Here is one of the biggest issues and it is not knowing how to get the writing done. It can be a challenge when you cannot think how to put writing as a priority.

Not being able to write can be such a challenge but you also need to figure out what is the block for getting the writing done and how you are going to manage everything that is currently being thrown at you. What people have said is that they have not been able to deal with the blank again and what I have done to give myself a break from that empty page, is set up a page that I can open up at the beginning of each day and it starts me writing without looking at a blank page. Before I do any writing for the day, I quickly open up a blank/formatted page and then I can start to get the writing done. I understand that there are going to be days when I can’t get a lot of writing done even with the formatted page.

I think for everyone there are going to be days or even weeks that you cannot get the writing done that you would like to achieve, and you just have to give yourself permission to accept that writing isn’t going to happen each day and we need to deal with that. It would be nice to be someone that can just write off thoughts/stories a day but there are going to be times what we all need to step back and understanding that I can’t write today and no matter how I try and get more things written it just isn’t going to happen.