It’s 9pm on self-imposed deadline day and you’re staring at a blank screen. Your long suffering significant other smiles fondly as you pretend to watch whatever car crash telly is on the box, knowing full well that your mind is elsewhere.
You’ve heard it all before: content is king, you’re only as good as your last blog post, the importance of writing to a schedule.
But you’ve had a busy few days working on unavoidable tech stuff (oh the joy of being entrepreneur – you get to wear so many different hats) and despite all your best laid plans (you do have a plan for your business don’t you?) you now find yourself stuck.
Having built yourself a reputation as one who produces awesome content, what you going to do about it?
You’ve left it this late, what’s a few more minutes between friends? You heard me! Go and make yourself a nice hot cuppa tea, spend a few minutes rooting through the cupboards for some chocolate, then come back and waste just a little more time with your pals on Twitter.
When you’ve done all that, turn off your email. Close all unnecessary tabs in your browser and put your phone on silent. You’re ready to begin.
You’ve been here before. You know already how powerful a well told story can be and thanks to some wonderful timely advice, you’ve started writing down all the little snippets of story that dance across your path. Haven’t you?
Great! So now’s the time to go back to those notes. Sometimes you’ll know what you want to share with your people and you’ll simply flick through your notes to find a story that fits. Other times, like today when you’re stuck for example, those notes will help you decide what to write. Have a little squizz at your stories and random happenings. Something there may be just what you need to trigger an amazing piece.
So you might have been a little tardy in recording your story notes. Or maybe there just wasn’t anything there that leapt off the screen at you? Have no fear. It’s time to go back to Content Writing 101: Meet a need.
Have a look at some of the recent comments you’ve had in your inbox or on your blog. What questions have people been asking? Is there something that is being talked about in the comments that you could expand on and develop into a full post?
Not only will you get unstuck, your readers will love you. You’ll have solved two problems with one metaphorical stone. Bargain!
Not only is it great for SEO to write a blog post that ties in with a popular current event, the event itself can be just what you need to get unstuck. It doesn’t matter what your niche, you can take any event and give it your spin.
Take the World Cup for example. I hate football. It isn’t my least favourite sport but I like it less than having my eyebrows plucked with a blunt pair of tweezers. However, back in June I wrote a World Cup tie in piece for the Give A Brick website called How to survive the World Cup: Loneliness cures for football widows. It scored a decent amount of traffic and here’s a cool bonus tip:
When you write your event related blog post, be sure to change the perma-link to something non-date specific. In the example above, my permalink is “loneliness-cures.” It allows me to login and change the introductory paragraph to make it suitable for a more general audience. Neat eh?
Having just told you to turn Twitter off you’d be forgiven for groaning right now. It’s OK. I forgive you. If you’re still stuck, head back on over to Twitter and search around your niche to see what some of your people are talking about.
Have a look at the trending topics (these can be narrowed down by region) and see what’s hot. If something fires off a synapse, write it down again quick before you lose it. Thoughts are tricky little rascals. You don’t want yours to escape.
I’m not talking about some mythical far off creature to whom you must pay writing dues. That would be daft! Your muse is someone or a collection of people who inspire and believe in what you are doing. If you’re in need of a little direction or even just some ideas, talking to your friends or a professional muse like me can be just the ticket.
Last month, one of my friends on Twitter was approaching her self-imposed noon deadline and was still very stuck. She sent me a direct message asking for help. With 10 minutes I’d sent her 5 ideas. You should see the post she came up with!
This may sound counter-intuitive but if you’re really stuck, getting away from it all can be amazing! Go for a walk, play video games, laugh, tickle, run, jump … whatever you love to do, go and do it.
Do yourself a favour and take pen and paper with you, ready to record the myriad of ideas, but just get out and be! Forget about everything to do with what you were meant to be doing. Just enjoy the moment and see what happens. You won’t be disappointed.
Depending upon your niche, a ‘how to write when you can’t’ post is always popular. But save this one for emergencies. You really don’t want to be using it too often!
If your readers aren’t writers or bloggers, this advice might seem unhelpful but engage your brain a little. What’s your business equivalent of the how to post? If you keep a blog aimed at people who have their own horses, how about ‘How to groom your Beauty when you only have 5 minutes to spare’ or, for the tennis blogger, ‘5 easy tips to improve your swing.
Whatever your niche, you can recognise a need and fill it, just like I did today.
But what did I miss? What do you do when you’re stuck and don’t know what to write? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
Once the words start to flow, don't worry about making it perfect the first time. Remember, it's your first draft. You will be able to revise it later. The critical thing at the outset is to write those thoughts down as your mind dictates them to you.
Sometimes we try too hard to think of something to write about, if you step back an idea just pops up.
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I've doubled bookmark this post. My silly brain gets blocked all the time and this post is going to help me out. Thanks taking the time to put this most helpful post together.
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hello there ! i feel when i start to get writers block, i get on my bicycle and take a quick ride. exercise helps fuel my brain and makes me more creative. i know everyone has their own method but i really feel like any quick form of exercise is very helpful for the brain. try it!
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Its really a big help for me ,im just new in this blogger's world…
Good suggestions! Thanks. I've been a writer for years so keep a file of ideas and avoid a blank screen when I'm not quite ready to write. If that goes on too long, it usually means I'm tired or need a break. I work with other poets and writers, too, so they often ask me about writers' block, and I'd never thought of suggesting a visit to the social networks to tune in to what's happening, but that's a great idea. In fact, one reason I write for Examiner.com now is that I like being connected and not living in the vacuum I often experience when I write full-length books.
Thanks for these useful tips, its really useful and also very easy to understand all the given point.
EI,
Great post. As a writer I can't tell you how many times I get blocked when I've told myself to write that day! I tend to write more freely when inspiration comes. Granted this isn't as structured, but it allows for less blockage. My favorite way to tackle something difficult is to always walk away when you feel stuck. Banging your head against a computer gets you nowhere. Better to have a nice bite to eat, drink a glass of wine, and tackle it again in the morning. Thanks for the post.
Very nice post! Not all people are gifted with bright ideas/ creative mind to write something about anything under the sun. I had a great time reading this. =)
Thanks for the post – in the last paragraphs, haven't you admitted you're in emergency?))) For me, switching off works at best. I trick my mind with allowing it to have rest, and in return it gives me brilliant ideas at time I never expect them to come.
El, trending topics on Twitter raises another opportunity, that of future events. Let’s say the World Cup is being held at a certain date – you can write posts leading up to the event, sure gives you a regular topic to revisit in times of deseration; on the first day of that event you’re going to get a HUGE amount of traffic. Picked this tip up from Viperchill (oh and by the way the post permalink needs to show the date in this case!)
Great tip Adam. Thanks for adding it. The only thing I'd have to query is how you'd change your permalinks for this type of post. I'm always very, very cautious about messing with permalink structure. Doing so can cause all sorts of horrid 404 errors. Unless you mean adding the date to the actual post itself? In that case, sure, date away
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Hi El,
This is a great post and one I'm going to bookmark for its usefulness.
And, for everyone else reading, I was that person DM-ing the muse for post ideas. El's titles were fun and awesome and helped me come up with a killer post. Yes, everyone needs an El to reach to when they're stuck!
Don't ever stop being so awesome!
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Awww, thanks Christine
I'm still waiting to read the other four posts from those ideas 
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Hi El
Love your hints for getting ideas. I get some of mine from the questions my readers put to me in the comments on my blog. They sometimes even suggest what I can write next! As a newbie blogger I haven't run out of ideas yet but if I do; your suggestions will come in handy. Thanks
Patricia Perth Australia
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Hi Patricia
Glad to have helped. The best thing I can suggest right now while the ideas are flowing is to keep writing them down. If you can build a bank of ideas now, they can serve as a great source of inspiration when (and in this case I'm afraid it's always when, not if) you find yourself struggling to know what to write. Glad to hear you're getting such great input from your readers too. Good stuff