Sitting in front of a blank screen stuck for words?

It’s not a nice feeling when the pressure is on to write something, especially when time is limited, but you’re totally stuck for words. If taking a break hasn’t worked, then try one of these 3 methods to help oil your writing wheels.

1. Do a brain dump Do you have one thought that’s vaguely connected to what you’re trying to write about? Great. Similar to speedwriting, set a timer and start writing about that one idea. Forget about the big picture for the moment. And don’t worry if an expression pops up in another language, write it down as it comes and keep going. When the timer goes off, there’s now something on the screen that can be improved and will generate more writing.
2. Mindmap Take a step back, set a timer and brainstorm as many expressions, thoughts and even pictures around your topic using all your languages. Now you have some material that you can organise, add to and rephrase in English, making it easier for the words to start flowing.
3. Explain it to a friend If you find talking is easier than writing, then pretend you’re telling a friend about the topic. Jot down some key words, set a timer, and record yourself on your phone speaking in a conversational style with the usual uhms, ahs and what I mean is. When you’re done, listen to the recording, pick out all the useful bits and type them up. Now you have something on screen to re-arrange and expand.

Finally, if it’s an option, just leave that topic and move on to another idea. This happened to me several weeks ago. Nothing I was writing sounded good and I was getting very frustrated. So I came up with a new topic, wrote about that and the deadline was met. A few weeks later I went back to the original idea, suddenly saw how to tackle it from a different angle and then at last the words began to flow.

Have you tried any of these methods? What do you do when your writing is stuck? Please share.

© Christina Wielgolawski