Writer’s block is a bitch.
Content marketing – you’ve been told again and again – is the way to go. Excellent.
But right now you’re sitting in front of a blank screen. Which is a good analogy for the current state of your brain…
And the writer’s block? There’s nothing new about it. The only difference I’ve seen in the last 50 years is that back then I was staring at a blank sheet of paper provocatively posed in my trusty Olympia typewriter.
Beating writer’s block
You can beat writer’s block, as any number of online articles will tell you. But if you’re writing content for your marketing you won’t want to write a free-form essay about a tree just to get those creative juices flowing.
So here are four ideas to help you man up your missing mojo…
Suss out your social media
Take 20 minutes (no more!) to see what your top contacts are talking about. What’s your take? What advice could you offer, based on your own sector and your own experience? Is there a story you could tell in response? Something you’ve been reminded about that would amuse or interest them?
Rule one of good content marketing is to write for your audience – and social media offers a great way to check what they think, want and need.
Mosey down memory lane
Remember what it was like back then? Last month? Last year? Last century?
These days change comes at such a lick that even a few months can make a massive difference.
How have you adapted to change? What lessons have you learned? And from that, what could you share with your target audience that might help them?
Nose around the news
These days, news is mostly negative. (They seem to think that’s what sells it.) You won’t want to be negative with your audience, of course. But you can still get those mental muscles moving by taking a negative news item and looking for the positive spin.
Jot down your thoughts as you think them – and you’ll soon find that the energy is back.
Though like as not you’ll actually find yourself writing about something entirely different…!
Drop everything and do it
Writing depends on the mental equivalent of ‘muscle memory’. You get better at it by doing more of it. So if your writing muscles aren’t behaving, there’s a remedy which often works.
Just start writing. Anything. It doesn’t really matter what you write about.
Write about the weather. The dog. What you had for breakfast. What you last watched on TV. (Or – if you’re my wife – what you last heard on the radio…)
After a while you’ll feel the juices start to flow. (Come on – you know how to do this!) You may even be ready for a stab at the piece you were supposed to be writing.
And that’s the point.
Because every writer has bad days and good days. Every writer faces a blank screen without the first idea what to put on it.
And every writer can beat the block.
Including you.