by Tammy Karasek, @tickledpinktam

As a writer, when you find yourself at a loss for words in your current project, do you whine, slam your fist on the desk or quit and get up and walk away? I have to admit I’ve done all of these at some point (or maybe all three at one time). But I’m still writing, so what made a change for me?

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud:

and he shall hear my voice. 

(Psalm 55:17 King James Version)

I’ve managed to create a plan to keep these instances to a minimum. When these moments happen, I stop and blow out a huge breath, then pray. I think I know what you might be thinking…wow, that’s real news there Tammy! But hear me out. Not only do I take it to God, I use an acronym of PRAY to aid me when I am tempted to participate in one of the above reactions to my frustration at the keyboard. 

PERSEVERE and PRESS-ON:  don’t quit! Don’t throw away your writing instruction books, cancel all your writing group memberships, give away your computer and go hide. Remember, the old tortoise and hare story? Slow and steady wins. Take a moment to breathe, get up from your writing space and take a little walk around the room or coffee shop and grab a fresh beverage. Well, don’t grab one if you’re at a coffee shop, they prefer you pay for them!

REALIZE then RESEARCH: realize you’re stuck, then research something for the piece you’re writing. I’m not telling you to research Pinterest for home decorating or a new recipe here. Take the topic you’re working on and use our friend, Google, to see what comes up. Character problem for your fiction? Research a flaw your character has and see what comes up about that. Working on a non-fiction piece? Dust off your King James Version and dig through the concordance for some scriptures regarding the topic you’re writing about. There’s just something about the beautiful words of the ‘ol King James Bible, right?

ACKNOWLEDGE and ASK:  still stuck? The obvious of the acronym should be where we always start, but what about sending an email to a writing buddy asking for them to pray as well. Who knows, maybe they might have a suggestion for your piece or would be willing to give you a call to do a quick brainstorm session. 

YACK and YEARN:  yack about God everywhere and everyway you can! Yearn to have the opportunities to share of His goodness. What does this have to do with being stuck in your writing? Sometimes through these opportunities is where God gives us more to write about! Keep a notebook of things that were said or questions that were asked in these events, then when stuck, pull out the notebook and read through them, you never know what may jump out for you to use. Always look for the opportunities to share about God.

Pray without ceasing. 

(I Thess. 5:17 King James Version)

I hope you can use the above P.R.A.Y. ideas if you find yourself stuck in your writing at some point. Do you have a thing or two that helps you when you have this happen? Please share in the comments below, we’d love to know!

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Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out! 

When not writing Women’s Fiction and Rom-Com, she’s The Launch Team Geek helping authors launch their books and a Virtual Assistant for authors. Her work was published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. She’s also the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President and current Vice-President of ACFW Upstate SC, Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC.  She’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation Blog, Novel Academy, and MBT Monday Devotions and others. 

Connect with Tammy at https://www.tammykarasek.com.