The only thing you really need to do to be a writer is to write. Write the alphabet, write your name, write a story — just write. But what about when the words won't come? What do you do when you sit down at the keyboard and your mind goes completely, stubbornly blank?

One of the best creative exercises I have encountered is what I call "vomit writing." The idea is simple: you write without stopping, without editing, and without judgment. You put words on the page — any words — and you do not look back.

What Is Vomit Writing?

Vomit writing (also called free writing or stream-of-consciousness writing) is the practice of writing continuously for a set period of time without worrying about what you are writing. The rules are simple:

Write without stopping. If you cannot think of anything to write, write "I cannot think of anything to write" until something else comes. It will. Don't edit. Don't delete. Don't go back and fix the sentence you just wrote. Move forward. Set a timer. Even five minutes of genuine vomit writing can break a block that has lasted for weeks.

Why Does It Work?

Writer's block is almost always caused by one thing: the inner critic. That voice in your head that says what you are writing is not good enough, is not clever enough, is not original enough. Vomit writing works because it disarms the critic. You are not writing a good story — you are just writing. There is nothing for the critic to evaluate.

Once you have written without judgment, even briefly, you often find that some of what you have written is genuinely interesting. Not all of it — probably not most of it — but enough to give you somewhere to start.

How to Get Started

Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a document or grab a notebook. Write the first thing that comes into your head, and then keep writing. Don't stop when the sentence is awkward. Don't stop when you lose the thread. Don't stop when you realize you have switched subjects entirely. Just keep writing until the timer goes off.

Then read what you have written. Circle the parts that interest you. Start there.

The goal is not to produce a finished draft. The goal is to remember that you can put words on a page — and that once the words are there, you have something to work with. A blank page is the only thing that cannot be revised.