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20 Little Writing Tips For When You’re Stuck
Self-doubt is a part of the process, and that’s okay.
3 min readJun 26, 2024
- Don’t overthink writing, just let yourself bleed a little bit onto the page. I think it was Hemingway who said this, and it was pretty much the only life lesson he was right about. I know it sounds dramatic, but hey, this is art. It’s okay to bleed, just make sure you clean yourself up by the end though — otherwise, people are going to worry.
- Find a good picture.
- Work when psychic entropy is low. Usually, this means first thing in the morning or late at night. If you must work when entropy is high, find ways to dull it down. I like ambient music, headphones, and walks.
- “Write drunk, edit sober” is great advice until you fall asleep halfway through the work session because you had 5 beers. Actually, it’s not good advice. Be a healthy artist.
- “Writer’s block” is literally all in your head. The way you get over writer’s block is by getting over yourself.
- Write a sentence as your working title. Then write the story. At the end, make it a headline that people will actually want to read. It’s only clickbait if you lie.
- If you want to see if your essay idea is any good, try tweeting it or posting it in short form.
