diff --git a/fs/fs-writeback.c b/fs/fs-writeback.c
index 587ac08eabb6..091a36444972 100644
--- a/fs/fs-writeback.c
+++ b/fs/fs-writeback.c
@@ -1481,6 +1481,21 @@ static long writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb,
 		wbc_detach_inode(&wbc);
 		work->nr_pages -= write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
 		wrote += write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
+
+		if (need_resched()) {
+			/*
+			 * We're trying to balance between building up a nice
+			 * long list of IOs to improve our merge rate, and
+			 * getting those IOs out quickly for anyone throttling
+			 * in balance_dirty_pages().  cond_resched() doesn't
+			 * unplug, so get our IOs out the door before we
+			 * give up the CPU.
+			 */
+			blk_flush_plug(current);
+			cond_resched();
+		}
+
+
 		spin_lock(&wb->list_lock);
 		spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
 		if (!(inode->i_state & I_DIRTY_ALL))
@@ -1488,7 +1503,7 @@ static long writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb,
 		requeue_inode(inode, wb, &wbc);
 		inode_sync_complete(inode);
 		spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
-		cond_resched_lock(&wb->list_lock);
+
 		/*
 		 * bail out to wb_writeback() often enough to check
 		 * background threshold and other termination conditions.