It’s inevitable. You know, when you feel like your brain is going to combust because you can’t put simple words together to form the perfect sentence that conveys what you want to say? The meaning is in your head, but there are a million words scrambled in your mind—yup that’s writer’s block. Even writing a simple tweet that requires just 140 characters can take 30 minutes because the words are lost to us.
This literary disease plagues the minds of writers every day, but guess what? We have the cure. But before we get into that, let’s start with why we occasionally suffer from writer’s block. Here are three possible reasons for your blockage:
Too Much Pressure
Stress can cloud your mind and prevent you from producing your best work. Tight deadlines and high-profile projects can steal your focus from the copy you’re writing, which causes that blockage in your head.
Knowledge
Have you done the necessary research to produce quality material for your brand or customers? Maybe there’s just one piece of information you need to convey your message correctly.
Inspiration
We should all be confident in our abilities, but not too comfortable. There’s always room to grow, and it’s not possible to grow as a writer without reading. Read anything—books, tweets, articles, blogs—literally anything.
If you’re too wrapped up in the content, a fresh perspective can work wonders for your writer's block. Click To Tweet
Now that we know what may be causing this problem, let’s fix it. Use these five tactics to get out of your writer’s funk and into a groove again:
Get out of your head:
Take a walk, play a game, go shopping (make it quick) or have a non-work related conversation with a colleague. Do something that’s not related to the work you’re doing. Even if you’re on a tight deadline, grabbing a quick bite can be more productive than staring at the computer screen in panic for half an hour. Return with a refreshed, calm mind and focus on the task at hand.
Write:
Yes, we know how silly that sounds but it works. Write a stream of consciousness, even if it has nothing to do with your content. Get everything all out that’s clouding your mind, grab a snack and then get back to the actual task.
Ask for help:
If you’re too wrapped up in the content, a fresh perspective can work wonders for your blockage. Even if they don’t have the right answers, that person may say something that sparks a flood of ideas for you.
Research:
Return to your college days where you knew next to nothing and all you had was Google and a blank document. Learn more about what you’re the topic you’re writing about or find out what other people are saying about it—especially your competitors
Get Inspired:
Inspiration can come from anywhere; you just have to be able to recognize it. Go on every social platform and find out what people are talking about. Twitter is a great resource because there are millions of people supporting or complaining about any topic you can think of.
You’ll never finish if you allow writer’s block to prevent you from starting. Depending on what works for you, that ‘mess’ on paper can transform into the most brilliant message you’ve ever written.
Do you know the difference between reach and impressions on Facebook? Learn all about it to decode your insights.
