When the words get stuck and your fingers freeze
Writing a text can feel mysterious.
Or rather:
Our idea of how others write is shrouded in mystery.
You probably know the image:
A hunched figure in a dimly lit room. The insistent clacking of a keyboard in rhythm. And behind a wall of crumpled paper, a head emerges. Pupils firing focused lightning bolts that become words pouring onto the page.
The writer’s struggle.
The piles of discarded drafts.
The image of the tortured artist, dragging themselves through life’s monotony, only to sprinkle divine words in magical moments.
And there’s a grain of truth in it.
You might experience it yourself when writing. Some days, it just flows. You hit a rhythm, and the words spill out. Other days... don’t mention the war.
The amazing part? You can actually train techniques that lead to more of those flow-filled days—and fewer of the ones where you're stuck staring at the blinking cursor.
But first, we need to talk about the brain. And what happens when you're under pressure to perform. Whether it’s a pitch to your boss, sales copy, or something else entirely.
Performing feels dangerous to your brain
Your brain is designed to keep you alive. One of its most effective tools is the fight-or-flight response. In simple terms:
When you're in danger, you either fight or run. The brain makes this choice in an instant.
Great for physical danger. If your stone-age grandpa faced a saber-toothed tiger, it was fight or flee.
But in writing? Most of the danger is imagined. Thoughts like:
- What if I can’t come up with anything?
- What if they laugh at me?
- What if they realize I’m not good enough?
- What if I’ve lost the ability?
- What if...
That tiny seed of fear grows quickly. Suddenly, your brain reacts as if a tiger just leapt from the bushes: fight or flee.
Ironically, those “what ifs” are often a sign of ambition. You care. You want it to go well.
The problem? When you sit down to write, your focus shifts to getting it right. You treat every first word like it’s final. You focus on the outcome—and the words stop coming.
Of course, you need something to write about. Maybe it’s knowledge you want to share, a product to sell, a message to send, a boss to convince.
But even with a clear purpose, you can’t always just sit down and pull perfect sentences off the shelf.
That’s the heart of the problem:
You’re trying to write the final text too early.
What happens?
You push hard for the perfect line.
And that pressure clogs your creative flow.
Techniques that help you write in flow
Getting into a good writing flow takes practice.
That’s why I’ve gathered a few helpful resources to inspire you:
- Freewriting – Let go and write freely
- The Pomodoro technique – Find your focus and keep it
- 2000 Characters – Get your first draft on paper today
Why the words get stuck
Writing carries its own internal pressure. We want to hit the bullseye—preferably on the first try. Maybe because we see the text as a reflection of ourselves. What we write becomes a mirror of our intelligence.
So we forget that good writing takes effort. And start fearing writer’s block.
Personally, I rarely land a perfect sentence on the first try.
But I still know the pressure. The dream. That romantic image of the artist struck by divine inspiration, pouring their soul onto the page in a furious writing storm.
The inspired genius is a great story.
But it's far from reality.
Great writing is the result of hard work. It takes deep focus. And it takes a lot of brain energy to be creative and generative.
The good news? You can make the process easier—with a strong routine and battle-tested tools that help your writing flow.
Still, writing is hard. Even for someone like me who loves it. It’s still tough to get the words into the right order.
We all have different reasons why writing feels hard. Bo Skjoldborg outlines four types of writers in his book Flowskrivning, each with their own challenges. Maybe:
You struggle to find time and peace to write
Meetings, emails, and phone pings. You’re good at writing. You feel confident. But you’re desperately trying to squeeze in time between everything else. It’s frustrating that you never go deep—or get anything finished.
You’re missing feedback
You write alone. Maybe you’re freelance. Maybe you’re the only one in the company who writes. Frustration builds because you’re flying solo. You miss input on your ideas. That creates doubt—even though you’ve always been good with words.
You’re stuck in perfectionism
Self-critical, quality-focused, meticulous. All great traits. But it means writing starts taking forever. It’s become annoying to spend weekends fine-tuning content.
You’ve never liked writing
Bo Skjoldborg refers to the “untrained writer.” Writing has always felt hard. You’d rather avoid it entirely. And it only happens when you’re forced.
What unites all frustrated writers? You can make writing easier.
You can learn to write with more ease. So it’s joy that moves your fingers. So feedback becomes natural. So perfectionism is put aside. And you dare to write, even if the first draft is shaky.
A gamechanger for me was learning about flow. I had felt flow before—jamming in the rehearsal room. Or writing endlessly late into the night.
The difference now? I have tools that help me get into that state. I can plan for it. It almost feels like having superpowers. But more importantly, it makes writing fun again. A bit like a good jam session.