Stuck Writing Your Book? Here’s What I Want You to Know
“I'm stuck writing my book.” I hear some version of that sentence from authors more often than almost anything else. And I want to start by saying: if that’s you right now, you are in very good company. Every author I have ever worked with—every single one, myself included—has been stuck at some point. Stuck isn’t a sign you’re doing this wrong. It’s part of doing this at all.
Stuck Looks Different for Different Authors
Before we talk about what to do, it helps to name what kind of stuck you actually are, because the fix is different depending on the cause:
You don’t know what happens next. This is often a structure problem, not a motivation problem, which is why we talked about outlining a few weeks back. If you genuinely don’t know where the story or the message goes from here, more willpower won’t fix that. A clearer map will.
You know what happens next, but you can’t make yourself sit down. This is a different kind of stuck—not a map problem, a momentum problem. This is where the practical tips below will help most.
You’ve lost confidence in the book itself. This is the hardest kind of stuck, and often the quietest—you’re not blocked so much as quietly convinced the whole thing isn’t good enough to finish. I want to speak to this one directly in a minute.
Practical Ways Through the Stuck Place
Lower the bar, just for today. You don’t need a good page. You need a page. Permission to write badly is sometimes the fastest way through. Just don’t lose this momentum once you get going.
Write out of order. If the next chapter in sequence isn’t coming, skip to the scene or section that’s pulling at you. Momentum matters more than order.
Set a timer, not a word count. Fifteen minutes of writing, and you’re allowed to stop. Most days, you won’t stop. But the deal was only fifteen minutes, so it doesn’t feel impossible to start.
Change your environment. A different chair, a coffee shop, your porch—sometimes the stuck feeling is tied to the space as much as the work.
Talk it out before you write it out. Explain the scene or the point you’re trying to make to a friend, your spouse, or even just out loud to yourself. Speaking it often loosens what writing it won’t.
If the Stuck Place Is Really About Confidence
Here’s what I want to say plainly to the author who has quietly started wondering if the book is even worth finishing: that feeling is common, and it is not evidence. Doubt shows up most often in the exact places that matter most to us, which tells you something about how much this book means to you, not how good or bad it actually is.
If God placed this message or this story on your heart, that calling didn’t disappear because writing chapter nine got hard. Finishing something meaningful is supposed to require faith along the way—not just at the beginning, when everything feels exciting, but especially in the middle, when it doesn’t.
You Don’t Have to Get Unstuck Alone
Sometimes what actually gets an author unstuck isn’t a new technique—it’s another set of eyes on the manuscript, or someone checking in on your progress so you’re not carrying the whole thing by yourself. That’s a lot of what coaching is for, and I’ve watched it make the difference for authors more times than I can count.
If you’re in a stuck place right now and could use someone alongside you—whether that’s coaching, a fresh set of eyes, or just a conversation about where your manuscript stands—go to emberinkpress.com and book an obligation-free, no-cost call. You don’t have to figure this out in isolation.
Keep writing. Even the messy pages count.
Dona Watson, the founder of Ember & Ink Press, combines 40 years of writing, editing, and bestselling ghostwriting experience with full publishing services to help faith-driven authors craft and publish books that impact God’s kingdom.
