Kill Your Writer’s Block Forever With These 4 Practices
You no longer have to stare at blank pages
Not long ago, while going through the comments section of a post, I saw a comment from a lady who claimed it took her 2 months to figure out how to conclude one of her articles.
I don’t know if she meant that as a joke or not.
But I do understand the overwhelming feeling of being stuck in the writing process, a phenomenon known as Writer’s block.
Writer’s block is a problem that all writers experience — some more than others.
If you want to kill the dreaded writer’s block and write effortlessly, you need to:
- develop the right attitude towards writing
- put together an effective strategy for writing
- get the right ideas and resources to support your writing
What do I mean by all of this? Let’s take a look.
This problem is inescapable
Overthinking.
Hands up if you’re the type of person who spends hours trying to come up with the perfect headline even though you’re yet to write a single word.
We’ve all been there, and it’s not a nice place to be.
The amount of time you spend thinking about the fine details of your writing would be enough for you to write a full draft already.
Of course, you need to think your ideas through and strategize a plan to accurately present them. But not when it prevents you from actually writing anything.
You overthink and procrastinate because you want to produce the perfect article, but how are you going to do that if you don’t write anything?
It’s certainly easier to learn while taking action than when you’re thinking about taking action.
⭐Here’s my tested and trusted process for curing Writer's paralysis:
1. Clear your mind:
In my experience, the number one enabler of writer's block and overthinking is a clogged mind.
That’s why I completely remove all distractions from my surroundings, make sure to take a deep breath and assume a relaxed posture before writing.
2. Use the free writing technique:
- Write down every single thought that goes through your mind.
- Don’t filter anything or pressure yourself. Take your time.
- Try to think of ideas that relate to the topic at hand (could be an idea from a book, video or article). If you concentrate, you’ll uncover a lot of them.
- Use placeholders to indicate places in the article where you’ll add content later on.
Don’t pay attention to details like grammar and punctuation. You’ll do that after you have actually put down something.
At least get something down, then talk about perfecting it later.
The harrowing fear of failure
Another reason that we procrastinate is uncertainty.
You are afraid to start because you’re afraid that the outcome will be negative.
Think of it this way — what’s the worst that can come out of you posting your work?
I can think of two outcomes from the top of my head:
- No one will read it.
- People will cringe at your mistakes
Well, so what? Both aren’t the end of the world. Everyone made mistakes at one point.
We all make mistakes as we climb uphill — Jordan Peterson
My initial articles have way more errors than any recent ones. Let’s say I refused to publish them due to fear, who knows if I would still be writing.
You’re better off doing something and seeing the outcome in real-time, than just imagining how it should go.
So don’t worry about problems and start writing!
Consume like a shrew
You cannot give what you don’t have.
As much as I want to encourage free-flow writing, you can’t conjure ideas from thin air.
You can’t improve as a writer by merely writing. At the end of the day, you’re limited to your level of intellect — the quality of your thoughts and ideas.
For example, if you don’t know the right context for using a semicolon, you’ll keep using it wrongly no matter how often you write because you don’t know better.
This is why a key part of improving as a writer is consumption.
Enrich your mind by reading books, watching educational videos and listening to quality podcasts.
When you ask questions, you end up either finding the answer or coming up with a better question, and both are good for your mind.
Reading is how you expand your mind.
⭐Here are practices you should normalize to get unlimited ideas:
1. Create an inspiration folder:
This is a folder in Google Drive where you’ll store all the interesting articles and content you come across while surfing the web.
Don’t add them there only to forget about them, create a specific day and time in the week to go over the folder’s content.
You can also categorize them based on their niche (e.g. personal development, health, psychology, etc.) or some other factor.
You can use a cloud-based repository like Google Drive or Dropbox to ensure that your work never goes missing, even though you lose your computer.
2. Carry a notebook and pen wherever you go:
Ideas are bound to pop into your mind as you go through your day. You need to be prepared for when this happens.
Carry a notebook and a pen, and normalize using them to jot down your thoughts in real time. Personally, I prefer using note-taking apps since I usually with my smartphone.
Jot down observations, record overheard conversations, and note your favourite passages from books.
All of these are sources of ideas for your next work.
3. Study other writers:
Reading other writers’ writing styles is how you eventually develop your unique writing style.
Most people’s writing style is an emulation of the writer they read the most. For others, it’s a mash-up of different styles from different writers.
In fact, the main reason I still pay Medium $5 despite being rejected from joining its partnership program is because of a few writers whose work I read.
Studying other writers means you have unlimited sources to get ideas.
Create a writing system
To write more easily, you need to create a system and stick to it.
Having a system in place helps you write faster because now you have a pre-defined structure that you can reuse. All you’re then required to do is fill in the words in the blocks.
⭐Here’s my system for writing a blog post:
1. Topic research:
For most non-opinion content, especially technical ones, I start by researching the topic I’m going to write about.
Taking time to research what you’re talking about in advance makes the writing process much easier.
2. Start writing:
Using the points gleaned from my research, I then create a rough outline of my article which consists of the introduction, supporting points (each with sub-points) and a conclusion.
Once I have the complete outline, I immediately start filling in the words.
Another important thing is having different templates for different kinds of articles such as listicles, how-to guides, tutorials and so on.
That way, when you’re about to write a particular kind of content, you can simply use its corresponding template as the building block for your new post.
Dear writer, don’t let your challenges stop you from writing. Keep going!
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