In my time as an English professor, I have had dozens of students who tell me they “can’t” write. They tell me that they stare at a blank page and cannot get any words down. “I sat there for two hours, and when I got done, there was nothing on the page.” “I just don’t know what to write!”

If this sounds familiar, take heart. What I started doing was asking those students to write in front of me. I gave them some space and observed from a distance. Almost without fail, what I saw wasn’t a lack of writing. It was a lack of trusting themselves to keep any of it.

Students would write a sentence. Erase it. Write two words. Erase those. Write a paragraph. Crumple it up and throw it away.

They were judging their ideas way too harshly way too early, and, ultimately, their judgment of their early ideas meant that they couldn’t get enough on the page to really get started.

The solution was to change the expectations for writing a rough draft, and to really encourage them to make a mess. Then, I gave them a brainstorming formula that, without fail, got something on the page. And something is a lot easier to work with than nothing.

A mild case of writer’s block might only need a little nudge and a reminder that it’s okay to be messy. A serious case will require something more structured. Here’s the plan.

Phase 1: Prime Your Brain

If you’ve ever used an old hand pump, you know what “priming” means. You have to get some water in the pump before you can make it work.

The idea is similar here. If you dive right into trying to write without getting your mind ready, you’ll have a hard time focusing. You’ll be thinking about what you want for dinner, the conversation you just had with your friend, your favorite movie quotes, pictures of kittens you saw on Instagram—anything but your paper.

Priming activities help you focus on the task at hand. Steps 1 and 2 do that job.

Step 1: Make a List

Take a look at the writing prompt. What’s the goal of this assignment? Are you telling a story about an experience, comparing two characters from different novels, explaining a scientific process? Whatever the goal, you have to come up with some ideas about what you should write.

It’s time to make a list.

Now, some of the things on your list aren’t going to fit. Some of them might even be ridiculous. It doesn’t matter. Write what comes to your mind. Try to get at least 3-4 items on your list. It’s even better if you can get 7-8. This leaves room to get the silly ideas out and move on to better ones. Don’t overthink it. Just write the first things that come to mind.

Now take a look at your list. Again, some of them aren’t going to fit. Cross those off. Some of them are “maybes.” Keep those for now. Some of them are going to be good ideas. Circle those.

Step 2: Make a Cluster Map

Some people call these “webs.” Some people call them “mind maps.” Some people call them “cluster maps.” It doesn’t matter what you call them. It only matters that you use one.

Take the items from your list that you circled and put them in the center of a cluster map. From there, draw some spokes off of the main topic and expand on it. Draw some spokes off those ideas and expand them, too. See how far you can take it.

Again, don’t overthink it. The goal of this step is to test out whether there is enough content in your idea to make a good paper.

Map all of the circled items on your list and compare them. Is one way more developed than the other? That’s a sign you should choose that topic. Are they about the same? Then maybe you could incorporate both of them or just choose one. Are neither very developed? Go back to your list and try out one of your “maybes” instead.

Phase 2: Content

You’ve got your head in the right space now. You’re focused on your topic and have given yourself some ideas to consider.

Now it’s time to start getting some actual content on the page.

Step 3: (Forced) Freewriting

Freewriting is a writer’s best friend. It means just what it sounds like it means: writing freely.

You can do it with pen and paper or with a computer. It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you write without judgment. Don’t stop and re-read. Don’t erase. Don’t move things around. Just write.

My favorite tool is the forced free write. In this exercise, you set a timer (I suggest starting with 2 or 3 minutes and working your way up to 5-7 minutes over time). While the timer is going, you cannot stop writing.

What if you don’t know what to write? It doesn’t matter. Keep your hands/fingers moving. Write “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know . . .” over and over again if you have to, but write!

Remember: don’t re-read. Don’t stop. Don’t judge. Just write.

When the timer goes off, go back and read what you wrote. Most of the time, a lot of it will be nonsense. You’ll have sentences that you started and then stopped midway before jumping to something else. You’ll probably get off track at least once. It’s all fine.

This isn’t a paper. It’s a free write. And somewhere in that mess, there’s a good idea. You’re going through it now like someone mining for gold. Sift through the mess to find the valuable nugget. Circle or highlight it. Be proud that you made it.

You should be feeling a little more confident about your topic now, but if you’re still pretty shaky, take that good idea you found and do another forced free write—this time starting with that thought for more focus.

If the paper is really challenging, you might need to do three or four rounds of this before you start to feel good about your idea.

Step 4: Discussion

Now you have ideas. The best way to develop them a little further is to talk them out.

If you’re in a class and have other people working on the same assignment, you can talk them out with them. If you have a teacher with office hours (or you’re learning at home with a parent), you can talk to them.

However, the person doesn’t have to know about the paper. You’re the one doing the work here, not them. They’re just there to provide you a real audience and some questions to help you flesh out your ideas. You can talk to a friend, a teacher from another class, whoever you think will listen well and ask good questions.

Take notes while you discuss.

Draft Again

Now it’s time to try your draft again. Remember, you’re still giving yourself permission to make a mess, but the mess is probably going to be more focused now.

It may seem like these four steps are going to take a lot of time, but they really don’t. You may spend 10-15 minutes on Steps 1 and 2, another 15 on Step 3, and maybe 20 minutes on Step 4. In under an hour, you can break your writer’s block and be well on your way to getting real ideas on the page.