---
title: "10ish Ways to FIGHT Writer's Block"

description: "A Reddit listener asked how to stay in the creative zone; Luke runs through his bag of tricks — garbage-in-garbage-out inputs, abandoning ideas on purpose, master-bus experiments, and why tempo changes belong early, not late."

status: complete

date: 2022-06-06

kind: solo

guestSlugs: []

listenUrl: "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/10ish-Ways-to-FIGHT-Writers-Block-e1jbgac"
appleUrl: "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10ish-ways-to-fight-writers-block/id1567355195?i=1000565360677&uo=4"
spotifyUrl: "https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TPpxf0ouNUNv9I2TypTBz"

topicsDiscussed:
  - "Classical and orchestral music"
  - "Creativity"
  - "Genre"
  - "Jazz"
  - "Songwriting"
  - "Reddit listener question on staying in the zone"
  - "Garbage in, garbage out (musical inputs vs. outputs)"
  - "Master-bus setting experiments"
  - "Learning a new instrument to break habits"
  - "Doubling takes for confidence"
  - "Tempo changes early in the process (not late)"
  - "Changing posture and environment"

hostNote: |
  "Garbage in, garbage out", when nothing's coming, the real question is what you've been feeding yourself. Writer's block is almost always an input problem, not an output one.
  
  I go through the full bag: listening outside your genre, starting something and abandoning it on purpose to see where it leads, changing your environment, learning a new instrument, and the quiet confidence trick of doubling your recordings. Some of these shift headspace; some just give your hands something unfamiliar to reach for.
  
  One specific caveat: change the tempo early in the process, not late. Trust me on that one, late is brutal.

selectedMoments:
  - label: "Reddit question after Memorial Day"
    startSec: 1
    note: "Back from a lake break; a listener asked how to stay excited and keep generating ideas."
  - label: "The whole bag of tricks"
    startSec: 46
    note: "Frame: changing perspective applies to any creative work, not just music."
  - label: "Garbage in, garbage out"
    startSec: 93
    note: "Dad's phrase applied to inputs — classical, jazz, and field recordings outside my usual frame."
  - label: "Abandon the first idea"
    startSec: 185
    note: "Start something, leave it, let the next idea arrive from the wreckage."
  - label: "Master bus experiments"
    startSec: 406
    note: "Tweak the two-bus setup and let the setting change the headspace."
  - label: "New instruments, new reach"
    startSec: 543
    note: "Unfamiliar fretboards and keys force different melodic choices."
  - label: "Double for confidence"
    startSec: 633
    note: "Stacking a part until it feels solid enough to commit."
  - label: "Tempo early, not late"
    startSec: 812
    note: "Closing caveat — shifting BPM at the end of a production is miserable."

excerptQuotes:
  - text: "There's a whole bag of tricks that I have that I go to all the fricking time, and I'm sharing with you, because I want you to make more music."
    startSec: 88
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Start something, and then abandon that idea, but let it lead you to the next idea."
    startSec: 229
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Those head space changes create a different frame of mind for everything."
    startSec: 398
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Change the tempo early in the process — don't do this late in the process. That sucks."
    startSec: 809
    reviewed: true

faq:
  - question: "What triggered this episode on writer's block?"
    answer: "A Reddit listener asked how I stay in the zone and keeps generating ideas. The episode is his full answer: not inspiration mysticism, but a repeatable bag of tricks for shifting inputs and perspective."
  - question: "What does 'garbage in, garbage out' mean for musicians?"
    answer: "I borrow the phrase from his dad and applies it to listening diet: if you only feed yourself one genre, your outputs narrow. I recommend classical, jazz, field recordings, and deep musical history as ways to break a slump."
  - question: "What production tricks does Luke recommend when ideas stall?"
    answer: "Abandon a starter idea on purpose, experiment with master-bus settings, learn a new instrument, double a part for confidence, and — critically — change tempo early in the process, not after the arrangement is locked."

transcriptPublished: false

draft: false
---