Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you.
— H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Blank white screen taunts every writer. And, the blinking cursor adds pain to the blow. Every writer has gone through it. To be frank, not a single one has escaped from the clutches of writer’s block. It’s tough to beat writer’s block, I’ll be the first to admit it.
I had many times when I stared at the blinking cursor on the blank white screen. Even now, I have been going through it sometimes (not very often though).
How can you overcome this creativity killer? How to fill your mind and brain with fresh ideas? If you are looking for answers to these questions, you have something to take away from this post.
The very first thing you should do is, accepting the writer’s block. Never ever pretend like a retarded genius because it doesn’t do any good to you.
Are you ready to totally crush and beat writer’s block? Here we go!
#1. Make an Outline
Next time when you feel it difficult to churn out words, try to make an outline of your article (or whichever piece of content you write). Doing this not only adds value to the content but also fills your mind with some ideas.
#2. Write in No Particular Order
Most of the writers create the introduction while they write a content piece. It’s the biggest mistake because we can’t come up with the introduction at first every time. If you get the idea of writing the conclusion, at first, go on with it. Kick out the hesitation with writing the body of the content in case it strikes your mind first.
#3. Go to the Old School Method of Pen and Paper
I know you prefer writing on the computer, don’t you? What if I told you to write after shutting down your computer?
Yeah! Sometimes, going back to the old school method of pen and paper works like a charm. I personally tried this method. This simple step gave me more ideas than that I used to get while writing directly on the computer.
#4. Don’t Edit while Writing
Never ever disrupt the flow of creativity. Editing should be done only after you complete writing. If you have a habit of editing while you write, it can cause you writer’s block because doing so, you are breaking the creative twine of thoughts.
#5. Free Writing
If you are a freelance writer like me, you have to deal with several topics. The pain behind that is sometimes we get rough topics to write on, topics that we don’t like at all. But the irony is that the pay scale doesn’t allow us to leave the project.
In such a scenario, writer’s block is common. So, you can write about anything to get your creative juice flows. Writing about anything you like without topic barriers is referred to as free writing.
#6. Research Ideas
A content writer has to research lots of stuff to come up with a good post. I know the process of research may become dreadful. But you don’t have to use much brain here, the search engines do most of the work for you.
So, the next time you have to write a well-researched content and find nothing comes into mind, close the writing tool and start researching right away.
#7. Set a Deadline
In my case, nothing works better than a deadline. I have some clients who don’t set a time limit for me. As a result, I used to end up delivering their work lately. At the same time, I delivered content for those who set a strict deadline.
So, what I do nowadays is set up a deadline myself for each writing task. You can follow the same method to get things done at the right time.
#8. Avoid Distractions
Distractions steal creativity from you, thereby making you unable to write. The chattering of people, television or anything can be a distraction. So the best thing to avoid distraction is setting up a calmer location as your writing space.
And, not only the outer voice but your inner voice can be a distraction. Sometimes our innerself whispers us to waste time on social media and on the web while we have work to do. The urge to surf the web aimlessly may be a cause for the writer’s block. This is especially true with new bloggers.
Hence, you should make a promise that you will never open social media sites or surf web while you are writing, except for the research part of your task.
#9. Take a Break
We are all humans, not robots. In order to stay refreshed and to come up with better work, you have to take a break. Or else, you will ruin the quality of the content yourself. Eventually, you will feel like nothing left in your mind to pour onto the screen.
If you are a freelance writer working on multiple projects, take a break after completing one assignment. In case you are a blogger, taking rest will be easy as we have time between two publishing days.
#10. Be a Thief
Does this sound awkward? Yeah, you may think: what the heck this guy is talking about?
Sometimes, you feel it difficult to churn out new article ideas. Even if you get an idea, the starting trouble does not leave you. On such scenarios, you can steal the idea of others. I don’t mean shameless blind copying and pasting the text. But stealing the idea by painting it with a new color and making it yours.
A good way is to take someone’s title and without reading the post, write your own article for that same title.
Are You Ready to Beat Writer’s Block?
I have given you ten ways to beat writer’s block like a boss. Not every tip here will work for you. But at least, a few of them can rescue you from being out of ideas, I swear.
If you feel writer’s block often, don’t be desperate. It is a common problem of every writer out there, be it J.K. Rowling or Stephen King.
And the best way to beat writer’s block is to start writing right away.
C'mon... say somethin'