Writer’s Block – How to Get Back on Track

To become a successful blogger making 6-figure or better incomes, you will need to consistently produce high quality, valuable content that will solve the problems of others. But what do you do when you have to solve your own problem, like writer’s block?

You sit down at your keyboard all fired up to get your next post ready and 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. What gives?

You have what so many before you have had, on more than one occasion too, a case of writer’s block. Writer’s block is described as a condition associated with writing as a profession. You have lost the ability to produce new work. This condition varies in it’s intensity, often times lasting for short periods but also known to block production for long periods of time. As a blogger you are out of business without the ability to produce your most valued asset, content.

There are many reasons for this which we’ll not cover here, because who cares why? How do you shake it is what’s important.

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. It’s my 30 minute solution.

“Free writing” is a technique where the writer simply starts the act of 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. It’s really a trip how this exercise causes thoughts and ideas to somehow lead you to a topic or two.

Try this for 5 to 8 minutes without watching the screen then get up, take a break (no peeking) and come back in 20 minutes or so. Now read what you have written, which can be done by scanning it over the first time then reading in more detail the next, or 3^rd if necessary. 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. I’ll often have to do some research on the topic I’ve come up with but at least I have a direction now.

Other recommended strategies include;

• 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 that you can’t write, you just can’t write at this moment in time. This will pass.
• Develop a regular schedule for writing activity. Look at it as your job, report for duty and write. This regularity will condition your mind to get in sync with the rest of your being.
• Take some time off and enjoy the break. This is not easily accomplished for a blogger, but can be pulled off by writing many articles at a time and building some stock, which gives you the ability to post already written material. The articles can then be published to your blog automatically.
• 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 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.

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 now for 5 minutes just to see how it affects you. You may be surprised at the results of this little exercise.

Have you ever experienced writer’s block and if so, what have you done to break through and get back on track?

You may post your comments and feedback below.

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