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Getting stuck can be an overwhelming feeling, and in the case of writer’s block, a blogger struggles to think of more content to write. This is a feeling that hinders progress and in some cases, results in a decline in confidence. Even the most experienced bloggers on the web experience writer’s block at some point in their journey.
Luckily, there are ways to free yourself from the chains of writer’s block. Writer’s block is a problem that can be fixed, and by fixing hat problem, it will gradually become easier for you to write content. Eventually, you will be right back at your peak, and the words will be flying across the page. Here are the different methods you can use to free yourself from writer’s block.
#1: Use Topsy
Topsy is a website that allows you to see every tweet ever written. By easily being able to see all of the tweets with a certain keyword, you will see titles that can inspire future blog posts.
If you see an article called 4 Ways To Get More Pinterest Followers, you have several options to play with. You can write an article called 7 Ways To Get More Pinterest Followers or 4 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers.
Changing one word or number in the title gives you the power to create a completely different blog post. That means you can turn one idea you get from Topsy into multiple blog posts. Imagine what you would be able to do if you discovered 10 good tweets on Topsy that could be the inspiration for future blog posts. You may come up with 20 different blog post ideas which will eliminate writer’s block for a while.
#2: Read Other People’s Articles
There are other people in your niche who are also writing blog post after blog post. Similar to how you were able to get ideas from Topsy, you can also get ideas from other people’s articles. There are some bloggers who write titles that grab our attention that we can use to create titles for future blog posts.
In addition to the titles, some of the content in the blog post itself can serve as inspiration for the next blog post you write. Maybe there is a tip a blogger mentions that you can expand upon and turn into a lengthy blog post.
The more sources you have, the better. I have a separate email address that I use to subscribe to other social media experts’ and entrepreneurs’ blogs so I can constantly learn more about my niche and get more blog post ideas.
#3: Watch YouTube Videos About Your Niche
Similar to reading articles, watching YouTube videos about your niche also has the power for you to learn new things and get more blog post ideas. You should subscribe to at least 10 YouTube channels of the people in your niche.
The benefit of a YouTube videos is that you can watch and listen instead of reading text. This makes multi-tasking more possible to implement. An example of this is that you can check your email while watching and listening to the YouTube video at the same time.
If you enjoy watching YouTube videos, you should also consider listening to podcasts in your niche. Podcasts are also great sources of information because some of the hosts ask really good questions, and then the expert on the podcast gives really good answers. Those questions and answers can also be used for future blog post ideas.
#4: Take A Break
There are going to be some days when writing will become difficult. Just because you want to comfortably write again does not necessarily mean that constantly writing until you get out of writer’s block is the right approach.
In some cases, taking a break is the best approach. The worst thing you can do when you are stuck is stay stuck by trying to perform the same action. It leads to frustration, and in some cases, a loss in confidence. When I encounter a writer’s block in which writing through it is not enough, I take a break.
The three main breaks I take are running, playing video games, and reading a book. I only do one of those three, and then I get back to writing. There are some miscellaneous breaks slipped in there, but the main point of these three breaks is to get my mind out of writing. Restarting fresh is better than sticking with writing the content but staying stuck.
#5: Write Every Day
The more you write, the easier it becomes. Many people get stuck in writer’s block because writing comes unnatural to them. In a really good hour, I could write 4,000 words. However, there was a time when I could barely write over 1,000 words in the same timeframe.
The reason I have gotten better at writing over the years is because I write more often. I am approaching 400,000 words for this blog, and I have written well over 100,000 words for my Kindle books.
#6: Write even if you don’t publish
Writing even if you don’t publish is a great way to get more comfortable with writing, and therefore encounter writer’s block less often. I have written numerous articles and books that never got published. One of these books is 40,000 words long while the other book is 25,000 words long. Writing these books gave me more experience.
Would I ever go back and publish these books? I would have to think about it for a while because although the content is there, I wrote the books in 2013. My knowledge and writing have dramatically enhanced, but in order to enhance your knowledge and writing, you need to start. You need to start writing even if you do not publish all of the content.
#7: Write about something outside of your niche
In many cases, writer’s block occurs because a blogger does not want to constantly write about the same things. When I get writer’s block, I am tempted to write another article about getting more followers on a social network, but I already have numerous articles about that.
When this problem occurs, choose to write about something outside of your niche. Just because you write something does not mean you have to publish it. If you are a social media expert, you can write about baseball. It may not be your best content since you do not know as much about it compared to your niche, but writing about something different may be enough to get the ball rolling.
#8: Eliminate all distractions
The more distractions you have, the more likely you are to encounter writer’s block, and when you get the writer’s block, distractions will make you stay stuck for a longer period of time. This is why it is essential to remove the distractions around you.
There are plenty of distractions around us. The distraction that affects the majority of us is the inbox. Anytime a new message comes up, it has turned into a human desire to see what that new message is. When I am writing content, I remove my inbox from my screen so I can no longer see it. Out of sight, out of mind.
In addition, I make sure I am working in a clutter free zone. The more clutter there is on my desk, the more difficult it is for me to concentrate on writing content. Take some time to look at everything on your desk later today and ask yourself what really belongs and what can be removed. Vases can surely be removed, but you may find a good reason to keep a notebook on your desk (writing down blog post ideas, writing down goals to achieve, etc).
#9: Write down the ideas the night before
Every writer has a time of day in which they are very productive as well as a time of day where they are not as productive. For a majority of writers, nighttime is the least productive time of day. It is the time when our bodies are thinking about going to bed instead of writing more content.
It is during these nights where you can brainstorm different blog post ideas. You always want to start off the day knowing exactly what you want to write about. The first hour you wake up controls how the rest of your day goes. If you wake up and are productive, chances are you will be productive for most of the day.
#10: Create an outline for your blog posts
I have been experimenting with a new method which is creating an outline for your blog posts. Although outlines are ideal for the bloggers who write long blog posts that are over 1,000 words long, bloggers who write shorter content can still benefit from the outline.
In an outline, you write down the title of your blog post and the main points that you want to discuss. For this blog post, I wrote the title and the 10 methods that I wanted to discuss. Nothing more, and nothing less. In the end, I was able to turn about 50 words into this blog post.
Creating outlines allows me to come up with more ideas and organize those ideas. Before creating an outline, I would write down a bunch of ideas, but after a week, I would completely forget what I was thinking when I wrote down a certain idea. Wasted opportunity! That won’t happen if you create an outline for your blog posts before writing the content or searching for the next idea.
In Conclusion
Writer’s block is one of the worst things to get stuck with. It affects all bloggers, but how a blogger responds to writer’s block depends on how strong that writer’s block is as well as how long it lasts.
What are you doing to stop your writer’s block?
