JOIN: Celebrating Getting Through Stuck

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

I'm taking a quick break from revisions to share how I got through stuck. 

I was stuck. 

I had lots of reasons for being stuck. 

But then those reasons started to feel like excuses.

So I made time to sit down and get unstuck. 

But little bits of time here and there became me just staring at the words that were there and not knowing where to go next.

I was still stuck. 

Stuck on chapter three. 

I'm revising a young adult novel and chapter three was like a muddy rut and even though I was there, splattered with mud, desperately wanting to get out, the tires just couldn't catch. I was going no where. 

Two things helped me finally get through stuck. 

1. I found a nice chunk of time to actually really feel like I could get past chapter three. Something about knowing that I had enough time to wrestle with it made a difference. My mind was in the mode of knowing I had to do whatever it would take. Sometimes it's all mental but I find that if I pay attention to what's going on in my head, I can get past it. (For example, not that long ago, I was convinced I need a candle to be able to revise. I spent some time and a little money going to buy a candle, but then I could sit and focus. Moral of the story: It helped me get stuff done.)

2. I found other things to do than just figure out what would come after chapter three. I already had a list of thing to do with this novel based on CP feedback. I needed to add some description of a few places and characters so I focused on that. It felt like progress even though I had no idea where these descriptions were going to go. Free writing helped me feel like I was adding words to the page and it got me connected to the story again. 

And now I'm not stuck any more!

I'm way past chapter three and it feels good. I'm celebrating getting through stuck today. Maybe you've been there too and what got me through might get you through. Maybe you have ideas to share with me. (I'd love to hear them!) Maybe I'll need to remember what worked this time I was stuck...because I'm sure I'll be stuck again.