Ever find yourself starring at a blank screen and feeling completely and utterly stuck? It’s like all that sheer whiteness has just sucked all your motivation out and left you with an empty brain (the same one that was buzzing moments ago when you were contemplating the latest topic that you would like to rant about).
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just sit down and the words would just flow out of you? If what you were thinking, exactly what you felt on the inside, was magically transformed into flowing prose? Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen like that. Take it from someone who has made a living by writing — sometimes it’s a painful, ugly process. The keyword here being: process.
Yes, there are days when you sit down and magic happens. And then there are all the rest when you need to rely on a somewhat mechanical process to get you to the creative bit. This is where the uninitiated fumble and fuss and eventually get fed up, declaring creativity an impossible task. But when you have no choice but to get the job done (or not get paid), you figure out ways to get past it.
How to Power Your Way Through (and To) the Writing Process
#1: Be Fierce — Picture your end goal — to write a blog post, to draft a letter, to finish up that annual report. Whatever your goal is doesn’t matter, but you need to picture it as if it’s done and get stubborn about getting it done. This is no time for being wishy-washy or you will find yourself in the kitchen fixing a sandwich or watching endless cat videos on YouTube.
#2: Pick a Focus — Decide what you want to write about. Try as best you can to focus in on a narrow subject. Sometimes that stuck feeling is really feeling lost in a too big topic. If it’s writing for a specific purpose, decide on a topic that achieves that objective. For example, if you are writing an annual report, your objective is to present the company in the best light so think about topics that tell that story.
#3: Get It Out — Do not wait for inspiration — go get it! This is where power writing differs from that fluid creativity. It can be as messy and as ugly as you need it to be. Pro tip: use all cap placeholders to remind yourself what sort of ideas you want to put there if you can’t think of the right wording. The purpose of getting it out is just getting on paper (or on screen) and filling up the blank space with stuff (even if you end up deleting a lot of it in the end).
#4: Go Back and Tidy Up — Once you have it all down, go back to the start and edit or fill in the gaps. If you left yourself a note to <INSERT CLEVER TITLE HERE>, try brainstorming a list of potential titles. If you find yourself stuck on one particular aspect, like the title or the opening paragraphs, just keep moving down and work on what jumps out at you. Repeat as you start getting in your writing groove.
#5: Re-Read — If you find yourself getting stuck, go back to the start and read what you have so far. No pressure, but if you feel like it, maybe do a little editing and write a little more where there are still blank spaces. Reading it over is especially important if you have taken a break from what you are working on and come back to it.
#6: Do a Serious Edit — Start back at the beginning again and this time do a serious edit. Is the title attention grabbing or just kind of so-so? Does the opening make you want to keep reading? Are there enough paragraph breaks and subtitles to give the reader a break? This is where you can fuss around with wording until you get it just right.
#7: Call It Done — Remember that “Good is good enough” and although it’s fun to play with words, eventually you just need to move onto the next task.
