Congratulations. You made it through Wednesday! That mid-week hurdle is long gone, and I’m sure you can see the weekend. I’m looking forward to it for sure. For one, I’ve been a little under the weather for the past few days, complete with aches, pains, all that good stuff. Second, I’m banking on feeling better and enjoying a few outings and celebrations that will happen in the next few days. [Woot! Woot!] But before I can get my head into a weekend state of mind, I must pen…err, type…my mid-week blog love.
As I sat down to write this week’s mid-week post, I started brainstorming about what I should/could write about – what’s been going on this week with search marketing, what I have stumbled upon on the internet, what have I done that I can glean some marketing genius? Well, let me tell you, after this head and chest stuffy mess that I encountered the past few days, my head is in a cloud. To say I had writer’s block was putting it mildly. So, what better subject to blog at this moment than ways to bash that writer’s block. Or better yet, here are a few avenues that you should not venture – I tried. No bueno.
1. Do NOT Google “how do I get rid of writer’s block?”
I’m not ashamed. I Googled. It’s what I do! And let me tell you, what pops up [at least on my end of things] was garbage. Although at one point I could see it to be useful to someone at some point in time, it was an absolute time-suck on this end, my friends. These results defined “writer’s block”, talked about ways to structure a blog or article, and various broad topics. Not exactly the path I needed to go down. But this did shed light on what I really needed: Inspiration
Do this instead: Check out other online outlets like Pinterest. Instead of using the predefined categories they list, think of a subject that inspires you or something that is of interest at that moment. Search it. Take a moment to look at what pops up and see what comes to mind.
2. Bad [reality] TV is a distraction – it’s not guaranteed to be an idea gold mine.
As channel surfing for inspiration turned to catching snippets of new, random reality shows [um, The Good Buy Girls, Pretty Wicked Moms, really?], it was definitely something that sucked any amount of writing energy I had in me. And it’s not that the shows were really that interesting. The drama just.didn’t.stop. How could I? And, again, there goes any chance of finding inspiration.
Do this instead: Dig into iTunes, Spotify or Pandora and tune into your favorite station or playlist. Take 20-30 minutes to unwind, be with your thoughts and your favorite tunes. Start to see what comes to mind. Your point of view is a reflection of your who’s, whats, wheres, whens, and hows. Whether you are writing a news piece or a lifestyle article, the music you listen to will help bring you back to that place where is most comfortable, letting your thoughts be free, and will help you draft that written piece.
3. Don’t rush it. That will only make the problem worse.
This reminds me so much of the Chinese finger trap. You know, where you put your fingers in on either side, and until you just relax and push towards the middle, you will continue to tug and be stuck. You’re in a rush – you’re stuck. The natural reaction is to just keep pulling- not taking a second to just stop and think. During writer’s block, the solution might be staring you right in the face. But you ignore it. You don’t mean to – it’s only natural to [sometimes] succumb to distress and struggle. And you eventually pull yourself out. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. But what if it was easier than that?What if we could bypass that struggle, or what we may typically define as a “struggle”, accept this challenge, be comfortable with it for a moment, and consider that good things take time. I mean, you will be drafting the article or blog post first anyway. If one takes you longer than normal, consider that a win. More effort = better results.
We can’t escape it. Writer’s block will get the better of us sooner or later. How do you cope with this pesky, familiar friend?
