Stop Writing Mid-Sentence To Ward Off Writer’s Block

@~dt~: In a pro-lifehacker way, not a condescending way, fyi. I just like the variety here. ^_^

~dt~

I've been doing this for years to help myself. I've never really thought too much about it though.

...and I certainly never had anything to do with a Hemingway quote.

I love lifehacker. It makes me feel so smart sometimes :)

~dt~

@Duane: my cat has contributed a lot to my writing, especially this gem: "AJKLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL hcbskvLJDSS"

SamburgerHandwich

This sounds way too similar to Coitus Interruptus.

Or maybe stopping before finishing peeing.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I like to use this technique in face to face conversations. Hilarity ensues.

Currently, my only writers block is a cat.

I read somewhere that Bradbury wrote F451 in a day at a coin operated typewriter in the library, apparently paying by the minute (or whatever) forced him to keep pecking away no matter what it was so he didnt waste his dime.

sl0play

I find this also works great for programming in any computer language. I always try to leave off where the next step is clear. When I come back to programming, I finish that step and find I'm back in the programming mode and continue on to other coding task easier.

That Guy

As a teacher, when I would have my students working on narratives or creative writing, I would always instruct them to write, no matter what. They'd say, "But, I don't know what to write!" And, I'd say, "Well, write about that."

They would start by writing, "I have nothing to write about, can't think of a thing to write..." etc. Eventually, it would turn into, "This is like the last time I had to write an essay. It was about a birthday, and..."

So, I can say, having done this for a few years with my students (as young as 10), it really does work to write about not having anything to write about.

amrcanpoet

@ddouthitt: Anthony Trollope, and it was 2.5 hours.

"...he wrote for two and a half hours each morning before leaving for work. This schedule was ironclad. If he was in mid-sentence when the two and a half hours expired, he left that sentence unfinished until the next morning. And if he happened to finish one of his six-hundred-page heavyweights with fifteen minutes of the session remaining, he wrote The End, set the manuscript aside, and began work on the next book."

On Writing, pp. 151-152

I've been using this tip from Hemingway for years... not just for writing, but for any creative endeavor.

The Larry Phillips book "Ernest Hemingway on Writing" is an excellent read that includes a chapter on work habits. I believe this tip is part of that chapter.

sean000

Years' damage: I read too many recommendations re being terse: Hemingway. Ben Jonson, something like "tis better to be silent and appear a fool than open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Zen. All this may dry up the will to write. Don't.

@ddouthitt: for some reason F. Scott Fitzgerald immediately came to my mind too, but I also recall that he was a real shut-in when he was in writing mode, so 30 minutes probably wouldn't cut it.

SamburgerHandwich

I forgot who the illustrious author was - but in Stephen King's book "On Writing", he relates about an author who wrote for exactly 30 minutes every day. At the end of 30 minutes, he stopped - even if in the middle of a sentence. Every day he did this.

If only I could remember the author - F. Scott Fitzgerald? I think he was actually a patent examiner - but you all know memory plays tricks :-)

If I come to a point where I can't think of anything to write, I take a break for an hour or so and do something completely unrelated -- like playing video games or watching a movie. It usually helps clear my mind so that I can come back to the paper with a 'fresh' view.

That sounds like a really go

I seem to do best if there is a cue of some kind, a prompt from something around me. I mean something that goes bump. I have failed at writing whenever I've gone looking for ideas. I had to wait til they found me. And there too, I couldn't be waiting, because waiting was tantamount to looking around. It's like waiting for sleep to happen. If I do that, I don't sleep.

paintbox

I'm not terribly sure about this really - I almost always have such a hard time getting my mental train of thought back on the tracks when I'm interrupted or have to leave my work.

But come to think of it, I'm more often interrupted than I walk away of my own accord. Maybe the key is to walk away when YOU want to, not to be pulled away by a competing priority or distraction.

@TommySez: well played.

This would definitely not work for me. If I leave a good sentence half-finished, chances are I won't remember what the rest of that good sentence was. My trick is to just keep writing; even if it sounds terrible, even if you're going to delete everything you write in the next minute, even if it's scattered and disorganized, just write. It helps you get your thoughts out on paper and keep your flow going--which in the end, is most important for me.

webmissy