Writers: 11 Tips to Help You Fill the Blank Page
Over the last 8 years, I’ve published hundreds of articles and 11 books (and counting). I’ve started my own blog and I’ve written on other people’s blogs. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a featured writer on some of the most well-read websites on the web.
I say none of this to brag but to let you know that I definitely consider myself a writer. I have skin in this game.
To be clear, writing isn’t the only way my bills, holidays and adventures get paid for, but writing is a big part of my life.
I think the writer has always been within me, on some level. The words have just taken a while to come out (literally years!). I’m pleased to say, I’ve now released my writing brakes. I have faced down my inner writing critic. I write freely and mostly without restraint. Releasing my work regularly.
“I think the writer has always been within me, on some level”.
I love writing but I also know it can be hard to get out of the blocks at times. I want to share some tips that have worked for me, that may well work for you. Whether you are just starting your writing journey or have been at this a while, there should be something here for you.
1) Minimize Distractions
For me, this means turning off Wi-Fi, clearing the desk I am working at and often taking myself off to a neutral space (somewhere public where I’m unlikely to be bothered, not too noisy and not too quiet suits me just fine).
This might mean something totally different for you. That’s okay. We do this so that we can concentrate our effort, purely and simply, on creation.
2) Turn Up, Ready to Write
The longer I write, the more I believe that half the battle is just turning up ready to write. This is an active process. When it comes to writing, we must approach our time in a focused way. Like a professional turning up to do their work.
If it’s writing time, it’s writing time.
3) Commit to One Line a Day
Whilst we’re talking about the importance of turning up to write, this one may fly in the face of what you’ve heard elsewhere. However, it also works.
The whole 500 words a day thing (or 750 words a day, or two crappy pages etc, etc) never really settled for me. It might well be the trendy, and often repeated advice, but it does not fit for me. In fact, it put an unhealthy pressure on just cranking out words (a quantitative rather qualitative approach).
Personally, I like to make the point of entry lower at one line.
What I’ve found is that, often, one line turns into many. The act of getting started creates momentum.
This also allows me to be liberal with how I use my time. I don’t feel pressure to have one big writing block per day, I can find time for multiple opportunities to write instead (a little and often approach sprinkled through the day).
“The act of getting started creates momentum”.
One line is a low enough entry point that I don’t feel bad if I miss a day completely. And sometimes I do have days where I won’t write a word. Not the trendy advice of the times perhaps but it works just fine for me. I feel no rust or guilt about missing a day but often find I’m twice as productive the day after and will get lots of ideas down.
What we’re really talking about here is leveraging the power of a micro-habit. Don’t underestimate these, as they can support even the largest of goals.
For those of us that also have external responsibilities and unrelated jobs, this approach can be especially useful.
4) Do the Reps
To get better at anything, we have to practice and put in the reps. Writing is certainly no different. The more we practice, the closer we will get to our best work.
I try to approach my writing with the mentality of a craftsman, chipping away and trying to make today’s work a little better than yesterday’s and then committing to turning up again and again, to do the same.
5) Habit Stack — Create a positive momentum for your writing
Most writers will have habits that support their best work. Recognize what these are for you and then stack them together, so that they become automatic.
This might mean what time you write, where you write, what you write with, what music you have on in the background or anything else that helps get the creative juices flowing.
Just starting and getting the first sentence of the day down, can also create its own momentum.
6) Let Go of Expectations
Now I’ve warmed you up, let’s get to a tough point. Perhaps the toughest of all. Letting go of expectations.
To be frank, I am not even close to mastering this one, but I do realise it’s importance.
For the writer, after investing so much of ourselves into our work, it’s very hard not to have expectations for it. However, this can lead to an unhealthy relationship with our work and stop us creating at all.
We may think we’ve just created a masterpiece, we’ve laboured long and hard over this, and now expect that the world will stop, look up and take notice of our brilliance. We release it out into the world and ……nothing. No comments, no round of applause, no accolades, no celebrations. How can this be?
The truth, we cannot control how the world will react to our work, or whether they’ll care much at all. We cannot control how many eyes will view our work, how many people will buy our books, or sign up to our blog.
“The truth, we cannot control how the world will react to our work, or whether they’ll care much at all”.
What we can control is trying to put our best work out into the world. We can remain authentic in the words we deem worthy of sharing. Trying to put as much of ourselves as we can, in each piece we release. We can stand behind our work and let that be achievement enough.
7) Focus on One Topic (Go Deep)
Firstly, an admission. I write across a few different broad theme areas including:
- leveraging simplicity in our lives (80/20, focusing, minimalism etc)
- self-development
- the writing process and associated tips (such as this piece;)
- Consulting, managing projects and culture change (I run my own one-man consultancy in this space)
- Poetry (I write my own Haiku)
- (less occasionally) Fitness and health.
These broad strokes allow me to cover a lot of ground in areas of interest to me. This does mean, that at any one time, I will have many projects and articles in various states of progress.
However, I intentionally use blocks of writing time to specifically focus on one subject area. This will often mean really zeroing in on just finishing one piece (an article or chapter for a book). I keep myself in a zone of focus, going deep on this one topic area until done. Then I allow myself to switch.
This keeps my headspace focused on the job (and topic) at hand.
For you, it might mean you focus purely on one main subject in everything you create (and really niche down). Or perhaps a portfolio approach, like mine, might suit you better.
8) Switch Topics (Go Broad)
In direct contrast to the last point, sometimes I also move from one piece to another, and from one topic to another unrelated area.
This allows me a degree of freedom and space for my writing. If I feel I am becoming a little stale on one project or topic, I can switch to something else I am working on and get a little further on that instead. This all counts as writing time.
If you’re a writer that also likes to roam, don’t be afraid to switch topics. Again, this may be counter to what you have read elsewhere but we’re all different.
9) Enjoy the Process
Much is written about making money from our writing and getting more eyes on our work but how about staying connected to the pure joy of creating?
Not all of us are going to have millions of people signed up as subscribers to our websites or have a book deal and string of bestsellers behind us. That’s okay, we can still stay in love with writing for its own end.
We can rediscover the pure joy of expressing ourselves with words. Feel the thrill of filling the blank page. Enjoying the process, not just chasing the external outcomes we wish would come.
This approach will lead to a healthier relationship with our writing and mean more chance of our best work turning up. Win, win.
“We can rediscover the pure joy of expressing ourselves with words. Feel the thrill of filling the blank page”.
We can express ourselves purely and simply from the heart, from a place of creativity, without worrying about metrics, attention grabbing headlines or eyes on our work.
Chase your writing joy and weave your own brand of magic with the words you leave in the world.
10) Leverage Constraints
Constraints have become a powerful tool in my arsenal when it comes time to write. I’ve written about their power before.
I have also found constraints to be flexible in terms of how I apply them. Sometimes I use time as a constraint, sitting in a coffee shop waiting for my wife to finish teaching a yoga class. Sometimes I’ll set myself a structure constraint (haiku) and less often a word count constraint. All support me getting the words down.
Time constraints can be particularly useful, if underutilised constraint for the creative. Parkinson’s Law is a well-known proverb, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion”. While this is often used to leverage productivity in a business setting (shorter deadlines so we make appropriate use of the time), it can also help the creative create.
I utilise time constraints often in my own writing. There’s something about a deadline (even when self-imposed) that really helps clear distractions.
11) Forget the Dogma
As with most things in life, writing can attract its fair share of dogmatic views and self- appointed ‘gurus’. You know the stuff, ‘this is the way to do it’, ‘you can’t do that’, ‘you need to do this’ and on it goes.
Let’s be clear, there is no one way to write. In fact, the only real commonality between the most celebrated of writers is their commitment to writing. They make time to create.
In terms of what habits, patterns and tools they use to get the job done, they vary wildly. That’s as it should be. We want our writing to be ours after all.
Forget the dogma, commit to writing in your own way — whatever that may mean.
These 11 items have all played an active part in helping me get more words down than I might have otherwise. I hope some of them do the same for you. Feel free to drop more suggestions of your own in the comments.
Now, back to writing!
**Note: My book for writers, about writing the process, is out now. The book, and these articles, are part of my mission to help free you up to create your best work.
Carl writes short books full of big ideas. He is also the proud owner of Frictionless Living which is focused on helping readers live simpler, finding focus and clarity in distracted times.
