It might seem counterintuitive to stop in the middle of a task, but if you return to work you’ve already begun, it can help you remain focused and offset the mental blocks that frequently occur when starting with a blank slate.

I find this is absolutely true. It’s better to come back to a task half finished – whether it’s writing or dusting the furniture – than to sit down at the desk or look around the room, trying to decide where to go and what to do next.

I’m stuck at the end of a scene I shouldn’t have finished; at least not until I was ready to flow on to the next. Now what? Another scene in the same time frame? Skip ahead a few years? Does what happens next happen the next day or the next decade? And what is it?

Time for some serious ideating.

Here’s an interesting little article on Lifehacker – from which the quote above is taken – on why you should never stop at a stopping point.

Leave Your Tasks Unfinished For Greater Productivity

Actually, it was Ernest Hemingway who said it most succinctly: “When you are going good, stop writing.”