Strike While the Iron Is Hot
What to do when you have writer’s block.
I had a couple of weeks where my brain was not producing any good ideas. I would start articles and get as far as the title and a few sentences, then nothing, it was so frustrating. I was putting too much pressure on myself to come up with something new that people would want to read about. Finding ways to stand out in any saturated niche is hard. What do you do when it’s already been done?! You write about what you know, that’s what.
I find that my best stories are a direct result of me writing about a topic that I’m seasoned in, or something that I can relate to first hand. If you write about what you know, it’ll flow from the heart and won’t take maximum effort. The hardest part will be choosing the best photos to include in your story and proofing it all 20x before you submit it to a publication.
When you have writer’s block, the best thing to do is take a break. Give yourself time to mentally recharge and go back to the drawing board when you’re not so scatterbrained and have an idea that you’d like to focus on. Some of my best ideas come to me when I’m not brainstorming what to write about. I wrote this entire article on my cellphone, in the notes section, because it popped in my head and I had to get it down while it was still fresh.
If a lightbulb turns on, keep the light on! Write it down or make a note of it and do all the finalization later. If it’s not the right time or place to formally write an article, at least you got your thoughts down and you have something to go off of when the time is right. An idea can be good even if the initial execution of it isn’t perfect. In my case, that means scribing it into my phone for the moment and turning it into something great later when I’m ready. Don’t obsess over the process, getting everything down and then organizing it later is the fun part. Remember, the hard part of writing is figuring out what to write about, once you have that the rest will all fall into place.
If you liked this story, I’d love for you to check out some of my others!
