When the Writing Gets Tough, the Tough Get Writing

February 27, 2025

By Lesléa Newman, faculty, writing for children and young adults

Have you come down with a bad case of writer’s block? Balderdash! Here are ten ideas off the top of my head to cure you and get the words flowing. Ready, set, write!

1. Pick a form, any form. Sonnet, villanelle, sestina, triolet, ghazal, haiku, abecedarian, sestina, pantoum, terza rima. Ha! There’s ten ideas right there. If any of these forms are unfamiliar to you, look them up and give them a try. Even if you don’t write in form—especially if you don’t write in form—this is a great way to stretch your mind, explore new possibilities, and discover the poetic genius inside you waiting to be born.

2. Write a mini-memoir of exactly 100 words. Mark Twain was once asked by an editor to write a 3-page story. His response, sent in a telegram said, “Want 100 pages? Need 3 days. Want 3 pages? Need 100 days.” Short doesn’t mean easy. It’s challenging to pare down a story to its bare bones. It’s also very satisfying. For inspiration, visit the website “Five Minute Lit,” which consists of pieces that are exactly 100 words long. Also check out the New York Times’ “Tiny Love Stories,” which feature stories of no more than 100 words every week. Full disclosure: I have had work published in both these venues: “I’m Here,” in Five Minute Lit, and “Why Did I Choose Her,” in Tiny Love Stories.

3. My favorite writing exercise to get unstuck is called “I Remember” and is based on Joe Brainard’s book of the same title. Write down the words “I remember” and then write a short memory (one or two sentences). Then write down the words “I remember” again and write down another memory. Rinse and repeat. When you have at least ten memories, choose one and write it out in present tense as if it is happening now. Load up your writing with as many sensory details as possible, as if you were making a film and panning the scene in excruciatingly slow motion. See what develops. This exercise has never failed me. One of my favorite memory poems is “Nikki-Rosa” written by the late Nikki Giovanni.

4. Find someone to play a game of Scrabble with. When the game is finished, make a list of the words on the board and write a poem using as many as possible. I’m serious! Using lists of words can open up your mind. If you’re not a Scrabble player, write a poem using the words found in a solved crossword puzzle. If puzzles aren’t your thing, read a newspaper or magazine article, underline every tenth word and write a poem using those words. Lots of possibilities here.

5. Write a poem, story, essay, or novel in the voice of a beloved pet: your current pet, a friend’s pet, a pet you had as a child, a pet you wish you’d had as a child. If you think this suggestion is cheesy, I suggest you read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (told from a gorilla’s point of view) which won the Newbery Award; Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (narrated by a horse) which has sold more than 50 million copies; The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (told from a dog’s perspective) which became a New York Times bestseller; or The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie (written in the voice of a cat) which was so successful, the author turned it into a wildly popular six-book series.

6. Change it up! If you usually write at home, write in a café. If you usually write in a café, write at home. If you always write your first drafts with a pen and notebook, compose on a computer. If you are left-handed, write with your right. If you are strictly a poet, try your hand at prose. If you only write for adults, try a children’s story. If you are a formal poet, write in free verse. If you have never written speculative fiction before, create a whole new universe. A writer I know studying for their MFA was having trouble with their novel. Their wise mentor suggested they take a break and write a picture book, something they had never done before. Well, not only did that picture book sell to one of the Big Five publishing houses, it received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. You never know until you try.

7. Is a friend or spouse’s birthday coming up? A special anniversary? Write an occasion poem. I can guarantee you that the recipient of your poem will be delighted. I speak from experience. For my sixtieth birthday, my dad, an attorney who had never written a poem in his life, put pen to paper:

Science tells us that to live

One needs air and water,

But to have a better life

One must have a daughter.

To have one so talented, caring, and bright,

Even makes old age all right.

Hands down, this is the best birthday present I have ever received. I loved it so much, I used it as the epigraph for my book of poetry, I Wish My Father, making my dad a published poet!

8. What’s your favorite color? Write a poem in which every line mentions something of that color. Use my poem “Seduction in Red” as an example. Or write a children’s book about your favorite color. For some reason there are dozens of kid’s books about the color blue. Two of my favorites are Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as The Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Bew-Hammond, which is actually a book for readers of all ages, and The Blue Hour by Isabelle Simler, which is a perfect calming bedtime story. Or write about your favorite color in any form you wish.

9. Place an object before you that has deep meaning and significance. Something from your childhood. Something that belonged to a beloved family member who has now passed. A special gift given to you by a special someone. Start writing about this object and see what develops. Describe the object using all five senses. Write the history of the object: where did it reside before it came to live with you? Write from the object’s point of view: what are its memories, hopes, fears? Write a dialogue between you and the object. What do the two of you have to say to each other? Here is a poem about an ordinary object—a pair of shoes—that becomes extraordinary in a poem written by Ellen Bass, one of my all-time favorite poets.

And here is a poem I wrote about my grandmother’s dishes.

10. Write a poem (or short story or essay) that starts with a line taken from another source. As long as you credit the source, this is okay to do. Many poets turn to classic poems to find compelling first lines including Robert Duncan's “A Poem Beginning with a Line from Pindar” and Randall Mann’s “Poem Beginning with a Line by John Ashbery.” If you are not well versed in poetry, don’t fret. Instead turn to Maggie Smith’s wonderful “Poem Beginning with a Line from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” First lines are everywhere! Once I started listening for them, it sounded like everything I heard would make a great first line for a poem.

And there you have it. Happy writing to all!

Lesléa Newman has created more than 85 books for readers of all ages, including the teen novel-in-verse October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, the middle-grade novel Hachiko Waits, the picture books Joyful Song: A Naming Story, Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story, Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed, Heather Has Two Mommies, and Sparkle Boy, and the dual memoir-in-verse, I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father. Her literary awards are numerous. Visit Newman’s website.