Writer's Block: What to Do When You Just Don't Feel Like Writing

Long-term, mid-term & “in-the-moment” fixes that really work when you hit a writing road block

What can you do when you feel stuck by a lack of inspiration, self-doubt, or perfectionism? When your imagination is blocked and it feels like you have to wrestle every word onto the screen (and then hate every word that you’ve written)?

The No. 1 thing is to remember that EVERYBODY feels like that sometimes. You are not alone and even professional writers feel like this from time to time.

But professional writers also know what to do to prevent writer’s block and should writer’s block still strike – they know how to overcome it.

The 3 components of writer’s block prevention

There’s a strategic long-term, a mid-term, and a short-term or “in-the-now” component to preventing and dealing with writer’s block.

I’ll talk about each one and give you some suggestions on how to master all three components.

Component #1: Strategic or long-term

Yes, writer’s block is not just a day that you feel…

a lack of motivation or inspiration
fear of not being able to write well enough
not being about to come up with anything interesting to write about
a lack of confidence in your writing abilities
overwhelmed by the task of having to show up consistently
intimidated by the blank page you’re staring at
that you have too many other things on your plate
too tired or exhausted to focus
that your space is invaded by lots of distracting things and people

Writer’s block is, to a large part, preventable and a planning, mindset and skillset problem.

Just think about it – what motivates you to do anything with consistency and joy?

The importance of clarity

In my opinion, it is about having a clear writing goal that is linked to your overall purpose. When you are absolutely clear about why and for whom you are writing, then you have no problems motivating yourself.

And with “for whom you are writing” I’m not referring to your target audience but to those people in your life that depend on you and for whom you are showing up in your business every day.

This could be you or your children to whom you want to open this world and give them access to a career of their choice.

This could be your spouse or partner who needs your support.

This could be a cause that you are supporting or the way you want to live your life.

There are many reasons why you’re in your business and need to make it a success.

Your incentive to write stems from the clarity that you have about your purpose coupled with necessity and urgency.

The importance of a healthy mindset

The second thing that has an impact on your long-term writer’s block prevention scheme is your mindset.

Think about who you want to be as a writer and what you need to do to be that person.

If you want to be an opinion leader and influencer, then you need content that stands out, educates and influences.

To be an influencer, you need to show up consistently with high-value content. Your reputation is not based on a couple of viral posts. It is based on a long period of networking and consistently posting quality content.

When you get struck by writer’s block – ask yourself: “What would an influencer do in this situation?” Would they curl up in a ball and moan, or would the go and seek inspiration to create another piece of content?

Get your mindset under control and BE the writer you want to be!

Creating messaging foundations to generate topics with ease

“I don’t know what to write about!” That’s a phrase that I hear at least five times a day.

You need to remember, you are in your business for a reason, you are an expert with a lot of knowledge and experience. Your topics are already there. You only need to find a way to extract them.

One way of doing that is to get clarity on your messaging foundations. I have developed a framework that rests on four pillars:”

YOU – who are you & why should I work with you?
YOUR IDEAL CLIENT – who’s my client & what do they want and need?
YOUR OFFER – how do I talk about my offer so that it sells like hotcakes?
YOUR BRAND – who am I as a brand and how can I create a brand that draws in and engages with the right people?

When you have clarity on these four foundational pillars, you can generate content topics with ease.

Especially when you define your content pillars that work like a never-ending fountain of topics.

Master your writing foundations so that the HOW won’t be a problem

“I hate writing!” or “I don’t know how to write a post that connects with my ideal clients and compels them to take action – statements like this are very common.

Content and copywriting need some level of creativity but it needs writing tools and techniques a lot more. Writing is a craft much more than it is an art.

Don’t let people discourage you by saying; “You need to be a born writer!”

Writers are not born, they are forged through knowledge and practice.

Knowing how to write makes a big difference!

(And just on the side – if you want to learn how to write copy and content – then take a look at my new membership by clicking on the image:

Component #2: Tactical or mid-term

Living and writing by the day don’t take you far. Success rates are much higher when you have a plan that you can follow.

You may say that you can just survive writing a daily post and then need to attend to your social media platform and do all the tasks that grow your audience.

I understand that. But I like to ask you to invest a little time in planning so that you can work faster and more effectively as a result. There are definite benefits in planning and batch-creating your content.

Here’s what I recommend:

Create a list of topics based on your content pillars upfront
Apply a strategy and content calendar, and then create content and copy according to that strategy
Figure out how you can create content most effectively. Then block time in your calendar to focus on content creation. This could be a whole day blocked off or non-negotiable time slots throughout the week
Stay consistent
Track performance, re-purpose and re-use your content
Set performance indicators like the obvious metrics of engagements and likes etc. but also new connections and direct messages resulting from your content

And lastly – not directly related to writing content but hugely important for being creative and productive…

Establish healthy sleep habits and ensure that you get at least 7 hours of good sleep and hydrate. This allows your brain to function a lot better. I don’t really want to go into nutrition, but eating the right food helps too!

Component #3: Short-term or in-the-moment

The foundations you have laid in the last two sections are essential to take action at the moment.

When you think of procrastinating and pushing content creation out – just remember who you want to be. When you call yourself a writer or content creator – then behave like one!

Being a writer means that you need to write! A professional takes the actions that make them that professional. A swimmer swims although it’s early and the water is cold.

A runner runs although it’s raining and it’s dark outside.

A content creator writes, although there are other tasks to be done and inspiration doesn’t seem to kick in.

But here’s a tip that works every time. Just start doing the action and soon the rest will follow. If you find it hard to start writing a post – start to journal or edit a different post. When you get your mind into the flow, then you drift into what you want to do.

And to motivate yourself, you can also ask yourself these questions:

What happens if I don’t do the work?
Whom am I doing this for?
What’s the goal that I want to achieve?

These thought processes should give you enough incentive (i.e. the urgency and necessity) to take the actions that lead you towards content creation.

However, sometimes you have to give yourself grace and know when you can miss a day of content creation. If possible, re-use or repurpose some content so that you still serve your audience.

But it is ok to miss out occasionally because self-care is important and you can only create your strongest content when you feel good.

The last tip to kill writer’s block in the moment is to take one of the content topics that you have already created and start brainstorming that topic.

I love creating mind maps because they always seamlessly lead me to write another post.

Achieving consistency and growing your impact

Writing with ease and consistency is not a matter of talent. It is a matter of laying the right foundations.

When you are your strategic components in place, build out the tactical ones and you won’t have any issues to overcome your writer’s block the moment it shows up.

The benefits are, that you become a writer and content creator. Writing becomes second nature and allows you to serve your audience with the consistency and value that they crave. And that – leads to more leads and more clients.

If you don’t want to set up your foundations all by yourself – then take a look at my content and copywriting membership, where I will show you how to establish the foundations that you need to write with ease and confidence.

https://www.theworddistiller.com/courses/the-word-distillery

Categories: Content Creation, Content Creation tips, content marketing, Contentwriting, Copywriting, Copywriting tips, Copywritingskills, writer's block