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When your computer freezes, pressing the restart button usually sets things in motion again. But what do you do when your brain freezes—and you’re on deadline?
No matter how much experience you’ve got under your belt, there are just certain times when your fingers and writer brain simply refuse to work in concert.
It happened to me a couple of nights ago. I’ll set the scene for you: It was about 9:30 p.m. And in a matter of hours, a big-deal client was expecting to see my big story package sitting in his e-mail inbox. But there were 26 pages of notes, 7 hours’ worth of recorded interviews, a blank screen, and a blinking cursor. I don’t know about you, but sometimes my brain just temporarily freezes under that kind of pressure.
Everyone has different ways to hit their mental restart button. But one of the most effective techniques for me is what I refer to as the Power of 15. I pulled out that trusty tool the other night. And while I know I’ve mentioned it in passing here before, I think it bears repeating.
Here’s how it works: Write like your fingers are on fire for 15 minutes.
To help things along, I usually set the crowing rooster alarm on my phone to make the 15-minute deadline more real. You can also use an egg timer, but that’s not as much fun. At least the rooster makes me smile when it starts crowing.
This Power of 15 technique works because, let’s face it, getting that logjam of words out of your brain and onto the page can be downright painful sometimes. The Power of 15 allows you to put a time limit on the initial discomfort of getting started or getting beyond that stuck point in your writing. I can do anything (or almost anything) for 15 minutes.
If things are going well, sometimes I just simply reset the alarm for another 15 minutes and keep going. But if I’m still struggling, I’ll get up, stretch my legs, get a drink of water, lift a couple of weights . . . anything to clear the head. And then after five or 10 minutes, I reset the alarm and do it all over again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Sometimes it takes a couple rounds of this before I’m no longer resetting the alarm and I settle into that nice flow state where I write until the story is done or almost finished.
Now, when I was working in a newsroom several years back, I never had to go to such lengths to get my writer brain moving on deadline. All it took was one steely glare from one of my editors or someone on the copy desk waiting for my story, and I’d be writing like a madwoman.
But now, it’s just me and a 14-year-old cat in my workspace. So sometimes I need the help of a rooster, 15 minutes at a time.
What about you? What are some of the techniques you use to kickstart your writing process? Drop me a line—I’d love to hear from you!
Jenny
Photo source: danellesheree (Flickr)
1167 days ago
[...] you missed Jenny’s great post about the Power of 15, or if you don’t remember reading it in December, I highly recommend you give it a second [...]
1176 days ago
[...] Time your writing. I’ve talked about the Power of 15 here before. But it really does help you hit a word count within a certain time frame. By trying to [...]
Julie, I can sympathize. I hope you got the sidebar done and that you’re able to catch up on your sleep today.
Sometimes even the best tricks/strategies don’t work. I know how that goes …
Here I sit at 2:45 a.m., EST, trying to finish the sidebar to a piece I’ve struggled with all day. Yes, I’ve tried all of these tricks and it’s not working this time. Mainly because I hate the client …
Hi George!
Thanks for the feedback and for dropping by! The NaNoWriMo approach to writing definitely works.
Enjoyed visiting your site as well—I’ll plan on being a repeat customer.
:-)
Hi Jenny,
Well this post is something to crow about. I used to try a hard boot whenever I got brain lock, but all I received for my efforts were a few bruises.
I had a writing exercise book at one point. (Not sure where it is now, probably next to my exercise bike – in storage ;-) ) The book had a picture or a sentence on each page and the idea was to just write whatever come to mind for 60 seconds – typos and grammar be damned. Sort of like a ultra-mini NaNoWriMo! That time crunch really made me just get right to it and usually after completing a few of those I was ready to go.
Hey thanks for coming by Tumblemoose. I’ve poked around here a bit and you’ve got a wonderful writing style and a great site. I’ll be adding a link and subscribing.
Cheers
George
Thanks Marc!
Boy I wish I had a mountain to climb nearby. I get up and walk every morning, so that helps get things circulating early in the day.
And if I’m stuck, sometimes I take off in the middle of the day and just go for a long walk if I’m not under too much of a deadline. Invariably, the muse returns. I do some of my best thinking out on the trail.
Well said, and timely for me. Under a “need to write” umbrella, I struggle. Whether it’s a blog, article, or project. I have to put myself in a “get to” mindset. Maybe it’s my rebellious side needing satisfaction. I look forward to more and I use exercise as well as a jump start. A walk up the mountain with a laptop does wonders.