Chief Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Dave Navarro known for his blog that rocks: Rock Your Day

Feeling stuck? There’s nothing more intimidating than staring at a blank page (or screen) and realizing that you’re up against a solid case of writer’s block. Even a temporary absence of the writer’s muse can leave the most accomplished writer feeling less-than-capable, and suck the joy out of an otherwise fulfilling exercise. But there’s hope for all who have battled writer’s block before – put these five writing productivity tips into practice, and you’ll have your muse on-call and waiting for you, rather than the other way around.

Tip #1 – Keep A Tangent Journal As You Write

Just as conversations often branch off into unrelated tangents, whatever you’re writing about now can be the catalyst for many other things you may write about later. However, like shopping list items and people’s phone numbers, you know how easy it is to forget them after even a short time has passed. Don’t risk having your best ideas become nothing more than faded memories – keep a “tangent journal” with you as you write and jot down incoming ideas. Capture just enough detail that you can use them later when you need a great writing prompt, and you’ll give yourself a great resource without breaking your current writing flow.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

By Leo Babauta

Finding the ideal working habits that will allow me to write as consistently as possible is always something I’m exploring as a writer.

As I’ve said before, I try to make it a habit to write first thing in the morning. It helps me to focus and ensure that I’m getting my writing done.

I love reading about my favorite writers and what writing habits led to their success. Below, I share with you some of my favorite writers’ work habits … and it’s obvious that there’s no single way to success. Some like to write a certain number of words or pages every day, others were happy to write a page or a sentence. Some liked to write long-hand, others did it on index cards. Some wrote standing up, others lying down.

There’s no one way that works. Do what works for you (and share it in the comments!). But maybe you’ll get some inspiration from these greats, as I have.

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Photo courtesy of 顔なし

“The happiness of too many days is often destroyed by trying to accomplish too much in one day. We would do well to follow a common rule for our daily lives – Do Less and Do It Better.” - Dale E. Turner

There’s a maxim in the Unix programming philosophy that says programmers should “write programs that do one thing and do it well.”

It’s a beautiful philosophy, and one that can be applied just as well to your writing.

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Photo courtesy of djloche.

“The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week.” - Robert Frost

Let’s face it: there are plenty of days when we as writers don’t feel like writing what we should be writing.

When we’ve got a big project facing us, whether that be a novel or a long magazine article or whatever … we get intimidated and we procrastinate.

Especially when we control our own schedule.

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Photo courtesy of Peter Gene

As I write these words, it’s a little after 4:00 a.m. and my wife and kids are sleeping. The house is dark and quiet, with no TV or music playing, no conversation to distract the voice in my head.

It’s the perfect writing environment, for me at least.

When we write, we are speaking with a voice in our heads, and that voice is communicated through our fingertips and onto paper or the digital whitespace. The more noise that’s around us, the more difficult it is to hear our voice.

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