Stuck? When words don’t come, try walking away
Image courtesy of Dorothy Pomerantz
By Dorothy Pomerantz | Fitch Ink Managing Editor
We’ve all been there. You sit down to write, fingers poised above the keyboard, maybe a cozy cup of tea by your side, and then… nothing. Your brain feels like it’s suddenly turned to sludge. Coherent sentences have as much chance of escaping as a dinosaur caught in a tar pit.
This happened to me just last week. I was editing a very difficult piece where the writer didn’t have all the information they needed but we were bumping up against the deadline. As an editor, it’s often up to me to get the story over the finish line when the writer has given their all. Normally, with a story in front of me, I can see how to move the pieces around and make the nips and tucks needed to make things work. But this time, I was stuck.
At first, I started to panic. I felt my breath get shallow. The walls were closing in. The words blurred in front of me. The story had to be filed to the client within a few hours. I did what I had to do: I pushed back my chair and went outside with my crochet bag.
Yup, that’s right. I sat down to crochet.
One of the things I’ve learned over my many years of writing and editing is you can’t force creativity, whether that means crafting a catchy lead for a story or solving an editing problem. When you feel stuck, take a moment and give your brain a break.
I’m not alone in using this technique. According to a 2019 study from the University of California, Santa Barbara, many creative people come up with their best ideas when they are “engaging in an activity other than working.” Think showering, jogging or, in my case, crocheting.
What I like about crochet is that it’s a repetitive task that lets my mind wander. Stitch by stitch, the project builds from a strand of yarn into a blanket, a hat or a scarf. It’s calming, meditative work that I can do for 10 minutes or an hour.
When I’m working on something very complicated, like trying to figure out a story angle or solve a business problem, I do sometimes get that “aha” moment while doing crochet. But more often, the work acts as a sort of reset for my brain. I can crochet for a bit, go back to the story and almost always find a solution.
In this case, I realized that by moving some paragraphs around and adding a quote, we could make the story work. We got it to the client on time, and they gave it a hearty thumbs-up — none the wiser to the stressful moments that went into making something that appears “effortless.”
Some (probably pretty obvious) ways to give your brain a break:
Go for a walk
Read a book
Draw
Dance
Meditate
Nap
What are ways that you clear your mind when you’re stuck? Let us know in the comments!
*This also works for crossword puzzles!
