Taking a break is definitely one of the biggest way I am able to rekindle and recharge my creativity. Very often when I’m feeling spent and especially in cases of writer’s block, it’s because I’m just trying too hard to write.

Letting go for a while and taking a break from it lets me come back with a fresh set of eyes, and lets me think about it without pressure while I’m taking a break.

Getting down to writing and “work” is important, it’s the only way to actually physically get things done – but if I’m too focused on a task for too long, I sometimes turn off or tune out my creativity (for lack of a better explanation) in lieu of grinding out the work that needs to be done. A break gives me a mental reset, and brings both the working side of me and the creative side of me back to the table.

A fiction writing break works wonders when I start to burn out on the “helpful” stuff I usually do.

At times I wonder how many ways you can say the same thing before people get tired of it, but the truth is, we learn in different ways, and what clicks for one person doesn’t work for another. And timing, as they say, is everything.

Another great post, thanks, Mark.

Thank you for laying out such approachable and concrete strategies to try when overcoming this particular sort of block. I can personal vouch for the success of changing subjects and collaborating.

Last summer I was stuck a bit on my cooking and entertaining content so I shifted focus to local food for a while and have been re-energized. I have more ideas now that I have hours in the day to write.

Also, I recently collaborated with a group of Austin-based food bloggers to create a guide for SXSW and the energy from the project continues to roll over me on a daily basis.

Up next on my list is changing mediums, so I was glad to see you mention it here.

Natanya Anderson
Fete & Feast

Now I have endless amounts of content to address… a lot of it is overlapping – but I found that if I addressed to the one person that is asking the question, even if it’s the same advice as some other post or content, it’s masked by the personalization. And readers/subscribers love it!

I had to allow myself to stop being too busy to relate to anyone else and voila, unclogged, feeling much less ‘too busy’ and able to get a lot more done better.