5 new writing hacks that you can use now, to shake loose new ideas in you and get you out of writer’s block. Even if your not in a “writer’s block” at the moment but still not getting the creativity that you know you can, try these new writing hacks to unlock your own creative ideas.

• Start with Bullets

  (The Skeleton Method): Instead of staring at a blank page, start by listing every point, scene, or piece of dialogue you want to include, as suggested by Writing Voices. Organize these bullet points into a logical flow before expanding them into full paragraphs.

• Read Aloud with Text-to-Speech: Listen to your work to catch clunky phrasing, repetition, and errors that your eyes skip over. Vocalize them like you are telling a story and even record your voice with your phone and listen back. Catch the flow of it and write it down.

  
  

• Change the Font to "Reset" Your Brain: Switch your document font (e.g., to Comic Sans or a2-pt size) to trick your brain into seeing the text as new, making it easier to spot errors during editing.

  
  

• Use Placeholders for Flow: When you’re stuck on a specific word, fact, or scene, use a placeholder like "TK" or "FIX" and keep going, as described by The Write Practice. This keeps you in the creative flow rather than stopping to research or edit.

  
  

• Handwrite the First Draft: Writing by hand slows you down just enough to increase creativity and bypass the urge to edit, according to insights shared on our earlier blog post "Pen vs Keyboard the old school way" can really help.

Additional Quick Tips

• Dictaphone/Voice Memo: Record ideas while commuting or away from your desk. I’ve used this method for decades in my song writing.

• Reverse Engineering: Outline your favorite books or articles to understand their structure, this can help you fix your own story's pacing.

• Set Time Limits: Use the Pomodoro technique (e.g., 30-minute marathons) to write. When you feel your creativity really flowing try this and don’t edit while you write!

• Contextualize with Emotion: Imagine explaining your story to a friend to find your natural voice and make your writing more conversational.

• Avoid Editing While Writing: Keep your creative juices flowing by separating the drafting and editing phases entirely, a tip discussed on

• Color Code Your Ideas: Just like when we were kids this powerful technique can help you consolidate your ideas quickly and efficiently

  5 new writing hacks that you can use now

  Thanks for stopping in and we sincerely hope that one or more of these ideas help you in your writing strategy. Often times the simplest addition to your arsenal of tools can propel your creativity into a new way at looking at your writing, yourself, your goals and help you achieve your aims faster.