As a successful blogger you will need to consistently produce high quality, valuable content that will solve the problems of others. When your readers arrive from search engines, they entered a term that would help them solve a specific issue.
But what do you do when you have to solve your own problem, like writer’s block?
I mentioned this in the previous post and promised to expand on it here just a bit.
What is writer’s block?
Writer’s block is described as a condition associated with writing as a profession. You have temporarily lost the ability to produce new content, you just cannot think of a thing to write.
This is a condition that varies in intensity, often times lasting for short periods but also known to block production for long periods of time. Now as a blogger you are out of business without the ability to produce your most valued asset, content. The very thought of this applies additional pressures to produce, creating a worsening of the effects.
You eagerly sit down at your keyboard all set to tap out your next post, then out of nowhere comes brain lock. For some reason you just cannot seem to get your thoughts flowing like you have done so many times before. No subject seems to stimulate that flow state that you’ve become accustomed to and the harder you try to get going… well.
So what gives?
The reasons for this are many, but who cares why, we need how. What can be done to shake this and return to productivity?
I cannot guarantee your results, but I can recommend some strategies that have worked like a charm for me.
Strategies for Recovery
There are many recommended strategies for overcoming writer’s block and I’ll start with one that I have used to shake this in a hurry.
Free writing. This is a technique where the writer simply begins the act of actually writing for a set period of time, giving no real thought to what is being written or the spelling and grammatical errors.
There isn’t even a topic (if you had one you wouldn’t have writer’s block), just producing raw, often unusable material. For me this exercise causes thoughts and ideas to somehow lead to a topic or two.
I have done this for 5 or more minutes without watching the screen, getting up to take a break and returned a short time later.
At this point, at least for me, something has happened and I may have a couple of topics and the opening line for an article. Things are flowing again.
The important thing is to break your pattern, do something different and get away from the writing issue for a short time.
Other recommended strategies to try
- Take a walk, free your mind of the task for now, enjoy the outdoors and come back a bit later.
- Change your location and listen to some music. Music really stimulates thoughts which in turn will provide some ideas.
- Don’t despair. Avoid being too critical of yourself. It’s not the end of the world, it is one of those things that has to be worked through.
- Develop a regular schedule for writing activity. View this as a regularly schedule business activity that must be done.
- Take some time off and enjoy the break. This is not easily accomplished for a blogger, but can be done with some advanced planning. Try writing several articles at a time when time allows, building some stock, which gives you the ability to post already written material. The articles can then be published automatically by setting the time and date.
- Write in paragraphs. That’s right, write a paragraph or 2, take a short break and write 1 or 2 more. At the end of your writing, you can go back and weave them all together while generating even more content.
- Evaluate your writing environment. Are you comfortable where you write? Check the chair, the desk, the room. Perhaps you need a complete change of scenery and a different location. Your current workspace may have become a distraction.
- Put down the keyboard, pick up a pen. Although subtle, this minor change can be very effective in getting those creative juices flowing.
- Read your old blog posts. This can lead to new ideas about a subject that you have already written about. Be sure to link back to that old post, giving it a little new life.
- Perform some other task totally unrelated to writing. Mow the lawn or wash your car, anything to just remove yourself from the writing environment for a period of time.
- Take your loved one to lunch or dinner, which often leads to conversations about life in general. Some idea will likely come over you while doing this.
Wrap up
As you can see, there are numerous approaches to breaking through this condition and you may have to try quite a few before you find one that works for you. Once you have a technique that works use it again if necessary. Hopefully, this is not something that regularly comes over you.
Try the “free writing” technique just to see how it affects you, don’t wait until you’re in dire straights. You may be surprised at the results of this little exercise.
Have you ever experienced writer’s block before and if so, what have you done to break through and get back on track?
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