Take a break from the keyboard

If you ever get jaded with the dull clack of plastic keyboard keys when you're writing on a computer screen, or your writing becomes swept up in a mental logjam, try switching to a different writing medium.

Pull out a legal pad and a pen or pencil and start writing longhand – the way everyone from Shakespeare to Dickens did it. There's something about the tactile process of putting words on paper manually that pries open the door to more creative and expressive communication. Plus, a pen-and-paper medium allows you to cross out, annotate, sketch and connect thoughts with bold, slashing pen strokes. Though I write mostly on a keyboard, I keep several legal pads handy as well as a spiral-bound artist's sketch diary. I like the sketch pad's heavyweight paper and the fact that the sheets are unlined. This lack of form sometimes sparks creativity. Writing on paper also lets you sample different writing instruments.

Buy a box of Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils, the bright yellow ones with the shiny green lettering that you may have chewed on in sixth grade. Write big and bold with a Sharpie or cough up some serious cash and buy a fine pen like a Mont Blanc. I used to write with a cherished Mont Blanc fountain pen until it rolled off the table and crashed nib-first onto a ceramic tile floor. It's still on my desk in the 125 ml chemistry beaker I use as a pen holder. One of these days I'll shell out the dough to get the crumpled nib fixed.

Another option is scrounging up a typewriter, preferably a manual. Hammering away on a vintage Royal or Underwood and hearing the pleasantly percussive sound of metal keys striking paper is a forgotten pleasure that makes you feel like tipping back your fedora and barking, "Copy boy!" These mechanical beauties can still be found cheap at flea markets and garage sales. They don't always work perfectly, but that's OK. All you need is a technique to break away from the routine of writing electronically so you can gain a fresh outlook on what it is you want to say.