I’m no different from any other blogger. There are times when I really get frazzled trying to think of new and engaging topics for this and my other blog. Sometimes I freeze up and I can’t do anything but stare at the blank screen. Then there are other times when I force myself to write anyway and then I spend the entire time laboring over each sentence.
For every sentence I write, there are two that I go back and delete. I just can’t focus and even as I work through the writer’s block, it feels icky (I’m sorry for lack of a better term) as if someone’s rubbing my nose in my own poo.
I get the overwhelming urge to jump around… jump around… bang my head against the ground! Maybe the pain will inspire a new post.
…No that didn’t work.
As I swallow an Aleve, I begin mumbling, trying to talk myself through an idea. I babble… I ask myself a question…then I remember an old saying my Dad used to say:
“It’s okay to talk to yourself, it’s when you start answering that becomes the problem.”
It clear that I need to pull myself together before HGTV designers come in and put pillows on my walls and floors. I’m not in the mood to hug myself… My closet really is too full for a white jacket, and I hate buckles… I must snap out of it before they come and take me away (no, not Calgon)!
Then there are other days when I’m like a spring, and the ideas flow quickly and freely. The problem on those days – I have other pressing things that I have to do and no time to write. It’s like a cruel joke! Those are the days I hold fast to my little notebook as I feverishly jot down ideas for posts and tasks I want to complete and it’s as if I can’t write fast enough.
Then when I finally have time revisit those ideas – here we go again, with the writer’s block! What’s with that?!
Writing inspiration is so unpredictable.
So here’s what I do now when I’m faced with one of the above dilemmas:
- If I get a block and I can’t write, I’ll try to work through it, but if five or ten minutes go by – I wipe my nose, I don’t remember eating corn – I know it’s time to focus on something else. Sometimes switching topics helps. I’m not always in the mood to write on a particular subject.
- If I go down the list and nothing still sparks any writing, that’s when I’ll just allow myself to work on a non-writing task. I’ll take care of the plug-in updates or other technical aspects of blogging.
- That’s also when I’ll check to see if there are any comments that need to be moderated. Sometimes replying to comments helps – but usually if I don’t feel like writing a post, I don’t feel like writing a comment either unless, it’s a really noteworthy or inspiring comment.
- If everything’s updated and there are no inspiring comments, I’ll check my reader to see if there are any interesting blog posts. However, I have to limit this activity because this can easily be overdone – hours may pass with absolutely no progress. So I give myself maybe 10 or 15 minutes to see if there’s anything to refute or expand on.
- If that doesn’t work then I’ll return to my blog post idea list and then I’ll do some keyword research. Sometimes the act of discovering low-competition, high search keywords will spark new ideas that I hadn’t been expecting. Sometimes I’ll find a phrase that’s so interesting that I’ll have to start a post right away.
- At this point if nothing still sparks writing, I’ll chock it up as a “No writing day” and try to focus on other important items on my to-do list. There’s always the laundry. Of course if I can’t even force myself to do laundry that’s a sign that I’m in serious need of some fun and me-time and accept the fact that no matter what I do, nothing is going to get done… Oh well.
So how do you keep yourself from losing your mind over blogging? How do you keep all of your marbles neatly gathered together? What do you do to stay out the white straight jacket?
About Kiesha Easley
First off, excellent picture!
I find that what helps me most when I have writer’s block is surfing the various forums i’m a member of and finding a question to answer from there.
Sometimes no matter what I do I just can’t think of anything to write about, and surfing forums really helps me come up with content.
.-= Blogetize´s last blog ..Being Too Busy to Blog Everyday (And What to do About It) =-.
Hi Keisha,
First of all i would like to thank you for the great article and i add to this that this is a very encouraging article for all the bloggers,
As far as block is concerned whenever i get a block i usually take help of my friend who is more professional than me, Some step will definitely come out all the time . . .
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi jigen,
Yes, asking for help is probably the simplest, yet most effective way to overcome writer’s block. Thanks for reminding me of that great strategy.
If all else fails, I go for a long walk and now I carry a notepad. Ideas seem to just come to me when I am out in the fresh air. If walking is not an option then I surf the internet for ideas and write my take on an article or rebuttal a comment I saw.
.-= Ms. Freeman@Baby Steps of an Internet Entrepreneur´s last blog ..How to get Affiliate Team approval =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Ms. Freeman,
Yeah, comments are also a great source of inspiration – especially negative ones, for some reason that really gets the mind going… :)
My personal remedy if I cant think of anything to blog about, is to go for a long walk or get my GF if she is around to give me a massage. Both work like magic for me…!
.-= William K Wallace´s last blog .. =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi William! I must be nice… :)
Nice post. For me, when I’ve got a mental block, I try copying someone. I don’t mean plagiarism, but I’ll read an unrelated article in a magazine or online. I’ll see how that article progresses, and see if I can’t find some inspiration for my piece. Once I see how someone else can “flow,” I find it easier to do that for myself.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Greg,
Sometime it is helpful to “model” another article – I’ve tried that before and it does work.
There’s so many methods and even tools / software available to perform “Market Brainstorming” or “Trending research” it’s mind boggling in itself!
Google zeitgeist is a great place to get some inspiration as well as 43things.com
check em out!
.-= Jimi Jones´s last blog ..IMEye – The All Seeing Crystal Ball into Market Opportunities =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Jimi,
I need to check out some of these items,thanks for the suggestion.
it happens to me too….i just take a walk ,go out or watch a movie….something will come as i do these things..
.-= mk akan´s last blog ..How Too Many Backlinks can Increase Your Bounce Rate =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi MK Akan,
Yeah, that’s about the only thing I can do sometimes :)
I actually don’t have blocks which is good, but I have too much stuff I want to write than the actual time I have in my hands. It can be frustrating too.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Michelle,
Yes, that is totally frustrating – that’s actually what adds to my madness when I have time to write I can’t, when have ideas to write, I have no time. Arghhh! :)
When I’m about to lose my marbles, I walk away and do something mindless. I’ve always found my marbles come rolling back.
Just today, I was overwhelmed with a nasty to do list and did a few hours of yardwork. My mind was overwhelmed with ideas and I was ready to head back into the keyboard.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
It’s crazy how that happens, whenever I step away from the computer, that’s when the ideas race back to my head – the only problem is that by then I no longer have time to sit down and write. What a bummer! :)
What helps me, Kiesha, when I’m faced with writer’s block is focusing on my purpose. There are certain categories or keywords that I go back to.
For instance my niche is personal development, I start to think about, Gratitude, Giving, Life/living in the moment, extending a helping hand, thought process,(positive thoughts, affirmations and such), or keywords such as drive, determination, dreams, goals, risks, productiveness, zeal for life, motivation.
Sometimes I’ll just write all this down then go down the list and write out next to each category or keyword, whatever comes to mind. Usually I’ll get to one category or keyword that I start to flow and flow… writing out my thoughts on that topic.
The benefits of this is because it’s what your readers are looking for. Other ways that help me is to apply my life to the situation. I’ll tell a story about what happened during the day and relate it to what I want to write about. I’ve come to love that people love stories.
Readers also love it when you paint a visual picture. Immerse them into the story. They should feel that when reading your story, they leave their world and come into your reality. These are a few things that help me!!
Great post, thanks for sharing your tips. This is very much worth the Re-tweet!!
Jarrod
.-= Jarrod@ Optimistic Journey´s last blog ..You Know You’re Favored by God When… =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Jarrod.
Writing that relates to personal experience is always a great way to create original content. Thanks for reminding me of this one. :)
Kiesha, I find that the main source of writer’s block is lack of clarity on what you want to write.
I suggest people develop a detailed outline for their blog posts, articles, and books.
And if you are truly stuck, do something else for a while, ideally something relaxing and not work related.
.-= John Soares´s last blog ..Google Page Rank 2 Just 28 Days After Creating This Blog =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi John!
You’re right, some times you just flat out to take a break and relax! I know I do. :)
Great ideas here Kiesha! When I am stuck I usually rad some other blogs and/or read a book. This usually gives me some inspiration.
.-= Kevin M.´s last blog ..Do you struggle to ask others for help? =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Kevin,
Thanks!
I think one of the most popular ways for bloggers to overcome writer’s block is to read the work of other bloggers — if you’re passionate about blogging and the niche in which you’re reading and writing, it’s rare that you won’t find inspiration when exploring the work of other bloggers.
That said, this brings us back to something you wrote about a while back — about writing different content.
When reading other bloggers’ work, you have to be sure you have a different angle or opinion to share, otherwise we’d all be saying the same thing and therefore overpopulating the idea.
Another approach that’s worked really well for me personally is publishing a poll. Asking a multiple choice question using PollDaddy and encouraging your readers to check out the results. Avoid “VOTE NOW” when sharing the poll — this is has too much of an infomercial-like tone. Instead, encourage other to check the surprising results or what others think or do.
Yet another way, which I’ve never tried but had fun writing about, is the ‘what if’ question — ask yourself a few what if questions to get your imagination running … like kick starting a dirt bike. If you ask the right question, you’ll be writing before you know it, and that’s all you have to do to overcome the block.
.-= Christopher // Ask yourself what if …´s last blog ..24 Fun ‘What if’ Questions to Ask When Stuck With Writer’s Block =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Chris,
Publishing a poll is a very creative way to generate a blog post. I’ll have to add that to my arsenal of tricks. Thanks for sharing!
(Sorry it took so long to publish this comment, it ended up in the spam filter for some reason.)
Visiting sites like Alltop can generate some ideas for me sometimes. Sometimes I look for blog posts on there in my niches and sometimes outside my niches for my 2 blogs. Another thing to do is to look at posts that generated the most reaction, and either update the post or post a similar post. Google searches with the wonder wheel helps sometimes, and some days nothing helps but to take time away from blogging.
.-= Cynthia C´s last blog ..UPDATED–Clay Aiken’s Tried & True Concert Dates and Appearances =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Cynthia,
I’ve heard of Google’s wonder wheel, but have been too hesitant to try it out. I’ll have to take a look now. Thanks!
I’d plan content at least a week prior publishing, or simply ask a question and wait for the comments freeze my server :)
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Codrut!
HA! That’s an excellent strategy. Although I’d be afraid of the crickets that might take over… :)
Hi Keisha – where did you get that picture of me?
Just kidding.
This is easy for me to deal with right now as we have only just gotten started so there are TONS of look & feel type things to attend to (we need a new logo, a new header picture, navigation buttons, etc).
However, I can understand this from having formerly been in an industry where I needed to write unique content every day. One of the things that helped me most was to stay with a subject, but force myself to write it from someone else’s point of view. Then, I would write the rebuttal which would end up being my article.
I don’t know if the ‘keyword’ idea you described is a common thing, but it sure is smart. Thanks for the tips!
By the way, “icky” is exactly the right term.
Have a great day!
- mark
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Lol!! Mark!
Aside from making you feel a little schizophrenic, I think writing from another point of view is an excellent idea, because it helps you see the holes in what your arguing. Great point. Yes, “Icky” the latest technical term of 2010 :)
All great tips.. I find twhen I can’t write I just leave it alone and walk away… do something completely unrelated and come back with fresh eyes and mind.
Also talking to myself helps alot,.,lol
.-= John Paul Aguiar´s last blog ..Google Says – A Strong Twitter Community Will Get Your Tweets Ranked On First Page =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Yes, talking does help. I just sometimes take it to far… :)
Hey Keisha,
I hate when this happens. Usually, I’ll go to the gym to clear up my mind and listen to something spiritual so I can get uplifted.
Here is a tip for topics: there are times that I like to visit certain forums to get an idea what the audience is speaking about and asking about. Great topic!
Chat with you later…
Josh
.-= Josh Garcia´s last blog ..Caution: These Blog Tips Is Only For Business Owners Who Want To Make Money =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Josh!
That’s a great idea. I visit forums from time to time and you’re right, that’s a great way to get some much needed inspiration.