How To Break Writer’s Block

Pedro Hoffmeister
5 min readApr 30, 2021

When you’re stuck, use these six tips to crack the block.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Let’s begin with truth: Every writer has felt writer’s block on some level. You aren’t the only one, and it’s not just struggling writers or young writers or failing writers. Everyone who attempts to write well for an extended period of time will probably experience some form of writer’s block.

Jhumpa Lahiri, who wrote The Interpreter Of Maladies — which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction — said this about writer’s block: “I think writer’s block is a natural part of the creative process for almost all writers.”

Coleson Whitehead, winner of the National Book Award for fiction for his novel The Underground Railroad said, “Writer’s block for me is a question I haven’t solved yet.”

And Toni Morrison — a Nobel Laureate for literature — when interviewed about her most famous novel Beloved, said “I thought about it for three years…though I hadn’t put a word down.”

Writing is difficult and it demands regular discipline — not something most humans are blessed with. Because I’ve published 6 books in the past decade, other authors have called me “prolific.” But the truth is that being prolific doesn’t mean you never have a moment of block, of struggle, of not wanting to write or not being able to write. Like every writer I know, I’ve struggled with writer’s block because it is unavoidable. But it doesn’t have to overwhelm you, ruin your writing, or affect your production. There are quite a few ways to crack that block.

1.Take A Hard Stance Against Writers Block

The first way to crack the block is to be completely against the idea. Don’t give in to it, don’t whine about it, and don’t give it too much power. This isn’t to say writer’s block isn’t a real thing, but don’t make it a big thing. Come up with your own mantra against writer’s block.

For example, Terry Pratchett — who wrote the Discworld series of 41 novels — said, “There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented…

Pedro Hoffmeister

Author with Random House. TBI survivor who struggles. Poet. Climber. Former Writer-In-Residence of Joshua Tree National Park. Podcast: “Boring Is A Swear Word”