Two Effective Ways To Get Unstuck in Your Writing

Do you feel stuck in your writing? Every writer feels stuck from time to time. Perhaps you feel dry, empty and low on creative ideas. Writing doesn’t bring you joy and recharge you, but it feels overwhelming and tedious instead. 

These are serious signs that you are exhausted and need to restart your creative engine. How can we do this? Are there helpful ways to get our creative juices flowing again?

Here are two simple but very effective ways to get unstuck in your writing and overcome the feeling of creative emptiness and blockage.

1. Connect with the Lord. 

This sounds obvious, but we often fail to do this in our creative process. Sometimes we forget that the Lord wants to partner with us in our writing, and we are called to co-create with Him. It is easy to spiral down and start creating content, relying on our own strength, talent and creativity. This is one of the reasons we may feel stuck and empty in our writing. It is good to stop and examine our hearts, asking the Lord to search our motives and expose any self-reliance models. 

God doesn’t need information from us; He is not after facts because He knows it all better than we do. What He is after is connection and communication with us. He invites us into constant communion with Him, in doing life together, in co-creating with Him. He is always available and present. 

We can pour out our hearts, telling Him again about our longings, hopes, desires, expectations and goals, surrendering them all again and again. We need to cry out our frustrations and disappointments and let Him comfort us. Asking the Lord to refill us with His Holy Spirit, to refresh and replenish us, is the best we can do. 

2. Stop and rest. 

The Lord longs to answer our prayer to refill us, but we need to create space for Him to move in and provide. We do this best when we stop and rest on these three primary levels. 

Spiritually.
When we connect heart to heart and mind to mind with the Lord, we are already entering a state of spiritual rest. The one-to-one quality time with the Lord is the best and most powerful way to get replenished. Our emptiness is no match for the living water of His presence and words. 

Mentally and emotionally. 
We need mental and emotional rest, too, so we can restart. When we feel stuck, diverting our thoughts and focusing on things that are pleasant, hopeful, joyful and worth adoring is an excellent way to free up space for creativity in our minds. Also, we need to acknowledge our emotions and process any undealt emotions of disappointment, hurt and discouragement that may contribute to the feeling of being stuck. Physical movement, like sports and walking, can also extensively contribute to mental and emotional rest.

Physically. 
Our bodies need rest too. Scheduling time for physical rest in our daily routines is a good practice. Sometimes a short afternoon nap can work miracles. A good night’s sleep is also crucial for us to recharge. 

Finally, friend, allow yourself to have fun and do things that bring you joy and spark your creativity. This can be reading your favorite books, watching your favorite shows, trying something new, spending time with your friends, or enjoying the beauty of nature. We all need the oil of joy to ignite our creativity. 

There will be times when we will feel stuck in our writing, and this is normal. As long as we stay connected to the Lord, the source of all creativity, and as long as we give ourselves the gift of rest, we can move forward, filled with new creative seeds. 

Blessings,

Hadassah Treu

Which of these ways have you tried when you feel stuck in writing? What else has helped you? Share your thoughts on how to get unstuck!