Sitting at Screen and Not Writing? Six Ways to Get Unstuck in 30 Minutes or Less

Stuck? Spark your creativity

If you are no longer feeling innovative and have a little time to attempt to boost that creative spark, you’ll discover several suggestions to stimulate your creative mind in only half-hour or less! You can get unstuck.

Create something. Use your palms to create something new. When you stimulate your mind through kinesthetic activity you are using parts of the mind that are unused when writing. Buy modeling clay and mold it into anything you’d like. Take up knitting or crocheting. attempt baking something (especially bread dough that you may knead yourself). The key is to place your arms and palms in motion.

Nature Therapy

Go outside – particularly in a green or blue (water) area. Research has shown that exposure to green and blue areas stimulates the mind in several ways– one being within the regions associated with creativity. To get your fill of green, visit a park. Or if you’re feeling adventurous take a hike or kayak. Tuck a pen and paper in your pack because ideas will come. For me, the ideas come faster when I'm alone, But if you are not writing, get unstuck with our without a friend. What works best for you? You might also try gardening to incorporate kinesthetic stimulation with green and blue therapy.

Friends: Voices on the Gift of Companionship
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Friendship Therapy

Spend time together with your BFF. Friends who you understand and have come to accept as in your circle of trust can help move you out of a funk. Talk and listen to deepen connections and disrupt stagnant ways of thinking. Choose some friends who don’t agree with everything you say. If your BFF is the correct person to brainstorm with, or even to speak out about a problem, this kind of free talking may serve as a form of prewriting. They may have the answer you’re looking for, or you may come upon it yourself during the conversation!

Enjoy all kinds of Friendships in the JWP book Friends: Voices on the Gift of Companionship. Each short essay takes only minutes to read but will likely spark your creativity about how to look at a subject within the complexity of truth. Full disclosure: This anthology was compiled by Amy Lou Jenkins. Buying from affiliate links may earn the site a commission at no cost to you. Thank you!

Try Yoga To Spark Creativity

Attempt yoga. The beginner movements in yoga make it a perfect workout for everybody. But did you know that there were particular poses stated to encourage creativity? Yoga is known to lessen stress and loosen up thoughts. which means it’s an appropriate exercise for the writer who is stuck and wishes to discover a creative spark.

Jump Out of a Rut

Try something you’ve by no means done before. Experiment with new books, new music, a new museum, an unusual dance class, or maybe a new ethnic recipe from a place you’ve never visited. Learn about the place, the ingredients and stimulate all your senses. Dance to music you don't usually listen to. Evoke new connections in your neural networks, which can be so essential for creative questioning. Write in a park or bus station, or anywhere you feel safe and stimulated. Shake things up.

Get Your ZZZZ's

Don’t forget to sleep. You might simply be too tired to be creative. Twenty minutes 1/2 an hour is the best amount of time for a cat nap, to rest and recharge that mind! Also, plan for your good night’s sleep.

If you still don’t have a creative impulse, proceed anyway. Write terribly. Write with a plan or without a plan. The only way to work through a blank page is to fill it up. The work is on the page; so after working for creativity, move from not writing to getting unstuck. Break creative blocks with ideas and with fortitude.

Be creative in short bursts if that’s all you have time for. There’s a lot of things you can achieve in only half-hour or less. The secret is to get your mind and body engaged in something new or interesting. Don’t spend hours staring at a keyboard or an empty page. Stimulate your creative spark, and don’t be afraid of messy first drafts. When all else fails, read a great writer. Here are a few of my favorite books to spark my creativity. I might take a favorite page a read it aloud and that's enough to get me from not writing to unstuck. Reading aloud works better for me as a quick nudge toward a bout of creativity on the page. Which books inspire you this way?

Bonus Methods

7. Try Short-burst Creativity. If time away from your desk isn't helping, get back to your desk for short bouts. It works. Read more

Being creative in short bursts can be a productivity game-changer. You can achieve a lot in only half-hour or less. The secret is to get your mind and body engaged in something new or interesting. Don’t spend hours staring at a keyboard or an empty page. Stimulate your creative spark, and don’t be afraid of messy first drafts.

8. When all else fails, read a great writer. I might take a favorite paragraph or page and read it aloud. That's often enough to get me from not writing to unstuck. Reading aloud works better for me as a quick nudge toward a bout of creativity on the page. The taste and sound of great words in my mouth provides the nudge I need. Harry Middleton writes with love about his older male role models. I'm inspired by the respect Rebbeca Skloot pays to the long-unrecognized and without-consent contributions of Henrietta Lacks. Mary Karr is both honest and unflinching in her portrayals of her family, without unearned sentimentality or victimhood. Lucy Greely navigates the childhood pain that travels along a chronologic path to adulthood when facial disfigurement destroys the dream of being traditionally beautiful. These and more can inspire words onto the page.

Which books inspire you this way?