How to Overcome Writer’s Block: Expert Advice & Strategies for Breaking Through

Sophie Campbell
January 20, 2025 | 3 min read

In a perfect world, there would be a quick fix for writer’s block. A potent elixir that could jumpstart your brain, magic up genius ideas, and make your fingers race across the keyboard like a lightning storm crackling through the sky.

Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world. But there are proven strategies you can use to get back into your story. Let’s explore a few of them.

#1 Journal to Uncover Your Block

Understanding why you’re recoiling from your writing project, even though you desperately want to write, is the first step.

If you’re continually experiencing writer’s block, address it — don’t ignore it. They say a problem shared is a problem halved, so share your problem with your journal.

If you’re continually experiencing writer’s block, address it — don’t ignore it.

Bestselling ghostwriter, mystery writer, book coach, and developmental editor Dr. Rachel Clair wrote on this topic for our book Set Your Story Free: The Writer’s Guide to Freewrite.

She suggests shifting your mindset by using prompts like: “I can’t write because…” or “I’m not enjoying my writing project right now because…”

When you know the answers, it’s easier to interrogate the specific issue you’re experiencing, realize it's probably unfounded, and move past it.

Finish your journaling session on a positive note. Answer these questions: “I am excited about my writing project because…” and “I will write today because…” Then, jump straight into your project!

#2 Build a Regular Writing Habit

Imagine you’re heading off on a cross-country road trip. Your tank is full and you’re raring to go. But your car keeps stalling and breaking down on the side of the road. You can’t rack up the mileage when you’re constantly stopping and starting again. Your destination always feels far away. It’s the same with writing.

If you dip in and out of writing without a sustainable regular routine, you’ll likely encounter writer’s block. To combat this, build a regular writing habit, whether it’s 30 minutes twice a week or two hours every day.

If you dip in and out of writing without a sustainable regular routine, you’ll likely encounter writer’s block.

Find what’s sustainable and realistic for you and, come figurative hell or high water, stick to it. Try habit stacking until writing in a certain place and time becomes second nature.

#3 Do Writing Sprints

Writing a novel is a marathon. But it can, and should, include sprints. A sprint is a timed writing session — it’s as simple as that. Writing against the clock provides the urgency and pressure needed to get the words down, even when you’re not particularly in the mood to write.

Writing against the clock provides the urgency and pressure needed to get the words down, even when you’re not particularly in the mood to write.

Depending on what makes you most productive, you might like to challenge yourself to write X number of words in X number of minutes. (You can use the Pomodoro technique or a good old-fashioned egg timer.)

Or you could allot, for example, one hour of your time to writing without a specific goal or word count target. When you make your writing time sacred and distraction-free, writing becomes more tempting than staring at the wall.

#4 Use a Single-Purpose Writing Device

Distractions are a writer’s Achilles’ heel. Anything you can do to reduce distractions and tap into deep concentration will help you write more and more often.

One of the best ways to bat away distractions is to write on a single-purpose device with focused functionality.

Enter the ultimate tonic for writer’s block: Freewrite. This dedicated drafting device — free from blinking notifications and noisy alerts — helps writers 2-3x their creative output. Each Freewrite is specifically designed to give you the forward momentum to keep writing without looking back, so you can edit and polish later.

One of the best ways to bat away distractions is to write on a single-purpose device with focused functionality.

-

Writer’s block sufferers, we know it’s tough out there. But implement these strategies and you will rediscover your productivity and fall back in love with your writing project.

Return to “Cracking the Code of Writer’s Block."

Recommended articles

More recommended articles for you

April 11, 2025 5 min read

Freewriter Britt Gondolfi has an important message: people need to put down their phones and LOOK UP. The medium she chose to get this message across? Pigeons and poop jokes.

Find out how Britt and her BFF (who happens to be her illustrator) took a silly song and turned it into a book deal.

April 11, 2025 2 min read

Astrohaus, the team behind Freewrite, is an American company. Like many American companies, and virtually all consumer electronic brands, our cost base is global. We work with contractors in Europe, in South America, and in Asia. We purchase components from a global supply chain and assemble our product in China, but make no mistake, we are an American company. The majority of our costs, including goods, services, and payroll, are from the United States. Most of our team lives in the Midwest. I founded this company in Detroit, Michigan, and am still here. I am proud to have built an American company that supports 10+ Americans and their families.

But now we are caught in a trade war that threatens our very existence. A war that was building up over time but has crescendoed to a point that no business owner could have prepared for. As I write this today, we have to pay an additional 145% of the cost of any product made in China as a tax to the U.S. Government.Yesterday it was 104%, up from 54%. In March it was 20% and in February it was 10%. Tomorrow?

Astrohaus is an importer because there is no consumer electronics industry in the U.S. China has emerged over the decades as the world's factory. At first, as a low-cost solution, but in 2025, they are undeniably the best in the world.

Now we are in a pickle because we have established relationships with our contract manufacturing partners that go back to when we started in 2014. Yes, some of the folks we work with today have been with us since the very beginning. They took a chance on us and helped us get off the ground. I have personally spent months on the ground in Hong Kong and China working closely with these folks, whom I now call friends.

Everyone, including our contract manufacturing partners, is helping us explore our options, but the truth is that it is incredibly difficult to move factories. It takes careful planning, huge expense, and much more time than we have.

Unfortunately, we can’t wait to let the trade war resolve itself, nor do we have the advantage big companies like Apple have with a diversified supply base in various countries. We must work with our existing supply base in China, and that means adjusting prices to cover some of our new costs. That's assuming a trade deal gets done, because 100%+ tariffs are simply untenable long term.

As one last hurrah, today through Sunday we will be keeping prices as they have been. Get them while they last.

On Monday, April 14, we will be raising prices. Not because we want to, but because we have to.Thank you for standing by us over the years. We aren’t going anywhere.

Write on,

Adam

Freewrite Founder & CEO

April 10, 2025 4 min read

Bryan Young writes for many magazines and online publications. As you get more entrenched within the industry and develop relationships with editors, the process can vary widely. But at the start of cultivating those relationships, it’s usually very much the same. Here's his walk-through of the process.