The writing process can be stressful, and it is easy to feel anxious about writing, struggle to start writing, or lose focus while writing. Use these resources to implement mindfulness strategies such as meditative pauses, progress tracking, and reflective journaling into your writing routine.   

Materials designed by G. Travis Adams, Christopher Basgier, Katharine Brown, Michael Cook, and Annie Small 

This brief handout describes writer’s block and explains its causes 

• Writer’s Block Overview Handout Word Document 

• Writer’s Block Overview Handout PDF 

This brief worksheet explains solutions to writer’s block and a short reflective writing prompts to help you begin overcoming your own writer’s block 

• Overcoming Writer’s Block Handout Word Document 

• Overcoming Writer’s Block Handout PDF 

This is a handout useful for instructors as they help students navigate writer's block

• Helping Students with Writer's Block Word Document 

• Helping Students with Writer's Block PDF 

This longer worksheet explains some of the causes of writer’s block and writing anxiety, and it offers reflective prompts you can use to manage writing challenges 

• Using Reflection to Manage Writer’s Block and Writing Anxiety Word Document 

• Using Reflection to Manage Writer’s Block and Writing Anxiety PDF 

This handout describes the meditative pause, or brief moments in which you deliberately stop writing and check in with your body, your breath, and your mind, before returning to write 

• Meditative Pauses for Writers Word Document 

• Meditative Pauses for Writers PDF 

The following meditation script, “Focus into Breathing,” can be used before you write as a way of slowing down a busy mind and focusing attention 

• Meditation: Focus into Breathing Handout Word Document 

• Meditation: Focus into Breathing Handout PDF 

This activity helps you recognize your patterns of thought about writing and replace self-defeating thoughts with empowering ones to reduce the occurrence of writer’s block and writing anxiety 

• Mindful Writing Check-in Worksheet Word Document 

• Mindful Writing Check-in Worksheet PDF 

This activity combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and contemplative and embodied pedagogies to help writers externalize and silence an overly harsh inner critic

• Writing Mindfully Word Document

• Writing Mindfully PDF

This brief writing prompt helps writers plan how to use their time productively in a writing session

• Writing Warm-Up: Planning Your Writing Session Word Document

• Writing Warm-Up: Planning Your Writing Session PDF

This worksheet guides you in using expressive writing for self-discovery. You will learn about different types of expressive writing, such as answering prompts or making gratitude lists, and can complete several reflective prompts.

• Expressive Writing for Wellbeing Toolkit Word Document

• Expressive Writing for Wellbeing Toolkit PDF

This worksheet provides two brief writing prompts to use as a warm-up as well as to recognize and celebrate moments of growth in writing skills

• Writing Warm-Up: Tracking Your Growth Word Document

• Writing Warm-Up: Tracking Your Growth PDF

This writing warm-up encourages writers to affirm their readiness for writing through identifying the strengths they bring to the project

• Writing Warm-Up: Self-Affirmation Word Document

• Writing Warm-Up: Self-Affirmation PDF

This writing warm-up invites writers to reflect on a semester's worth of writing and recognize moments of growth

• Writing Warm-Up: Recognizing Your Growth Word Document

• Writing Warm-Up: Recognizing Your Growth PDF