Writing is hard. It takes too long and it’s really painful. This is why I don’t write articles, book chapters and books. The very idea of writing an article is too daunting. The moment I think, “I need to work on my article today”, I become paralyzed to the point I can barely move. So I quit all that and instead of writing articles, I say “today I’ll write two sentences on how the metaphors of stone and water are central to this novel” and “today I’ll integrate the quote from Byung-Chul Han into paragraph 6 on page 3.”
Everything I have written was done this way. And I have written a lot.
Another thing that helps if I’m completely blocked is to start writing my two sentences not in a Word file but in the posting box of this blog. That removes the stress and moves things straight along. A different place to write is always a good idea. I always find it useful to write in a less formal place and do it between other pressing activities. I do great writing during meetings. Every summer we have a 6-hour meeting, and I write massively there because it feels good to know I’m doing something useful while everybody else is drowning in yet another endless discussion of a yet another stupid bureaucratic policy.
Try unexpected places, formats, times. Try dressing up to the nines for when you write. Have something completely unusual for breakfast, sleep on the different side of the bed. Everything that’s unusual can kick you out of getting to deep inside your head and getting stressed out over the daunting need to write.
Clarissa's Blog 
I think Clarissas advice is excellent. (She has published more than I have but I do publish regularly). I personally tell myself that my goal is one page a day. One page double spaced in TNR font is 24 lines. So 6 lines is a quarter of a page. So I just tell myself…”you only have to write six lines.” Most of the time, I break it even further down into three line increments. And I can always write three lines. Then it’s just another three and another three after that. I always tell my students that I write three lines at a time. It seems to help them.
I also second the idea of switching environments and “dressing up” a bit. Sometimes I can be productive stumbling to my study and just pounding some words out first thing in the morning while wearing my sweats. But mostly I do a lot better if I shower, put on makeup, wear a decent outfit etc. And many times I find I do better in a cafe or something outside of my house because it feels more like a fun treat rather than drudgery.
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These are great suggestions. I also recommend deciding what the next day’s 3 sentences will be before finishing up the writing for the day. If you know exactly what you will be doing, it removes the anxiety of “I don’t know what to write about”.
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Some people make their bed every morning. My version of this is that I shave every morning, even if I’m not leaving the house or if I’m running very late for work. There’s no way to not feel like a bum all day if I skip this (obviously if you have an actual beard this is a different matter.)
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