Writer’s block: Does it really exist? Yes, absolutely. But that’s not the most helpful question. What really matters is: How do we overcome it.
And the answer to this is manifold. There are various techniques from Meditation, to a walk in the park, watching movies, socializing yourself and more. Today we want to focus (see what we did here?) on something else. A technique called Pomodoro.
It may sound too easy to be true, but it works for millions of authors and people out there. What Pomodoro means is to break your time into smaller sprints. The most common pattern is this:
-25 minutes of focused work,
-followed by 5 minutes of break.
You’ll repeat this pattern 4 times until you reach a 20 minute break after about 2 hours. Why about 2 hours, you ask? Because you aren’t forced to drop the pen when the bell rings. Keep that thought, finish that chapter. In short: Don’t kill your flow.
Where is the benefit if I don’t have to stay within the boundaries then?
Well, that’s the magic part. You can, of course, extend both the sprint and the break. But you are only allowed to distract yourself during the breaks. Like the usual doomscrolling. Happened to all of us.
Now, there is no punishment if you break the rules. And even that does happen occasionally. Realistically, you want to avoid doing so, though, as that would really kill the buzz and at the same time render the technique useless.
Backstory: Pomodoro was invented by Francesco Cirillo back in the 1980s – way before we all had smartphones or laptops. Back then, he used a classic kitchen timer – which was designed as a tomato pomodoro – hence the name.
Nowadays, there are plenty of pomodoro timer apps in the AppStore. Some free, some paid. Some paid upfront, some as a subscription. Some are better, some worse.
Depending on your needs, it can take a while to find the right one.
We wanted to take the hassle of choosing one away from you: We’ve built a pomodoro timer that runs right in Untold Novel. Best of all, it comes as a free update to everyone who already owns a license for Untold Novel. And yes, it will also be included in the upcoming macOS version. And boom, gone is the need for a separate app.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, hopefully it will help you improve your writing sessions even more.
Soon Now available in Untold Novel!
Pascal is the creator/developer of Untold Novel. He’s been writing novels for over a decade now – a time during which he missed a proper Novel planning tool. Once realized he started to learn to code and began build the novel planner he was always looking for
