I am so happy to have the very talented and lovely copywriter Tanja Gardner guest blog here this week. If you are interested in improving your writing – any kind of writing! – check this out. And if you need more where that came from Tanja has created an e-book that you can buy over on her website. Enjoy!
How a writing process can help you bust through writer’s block
Stuck on your blog post? It might be writer’s block
“Writer’s. Block.” Now there are two words that no blogger, author, or spiritual writer enjoys seeing together. I know I don’t – and when I started asking around, I discovered that getting unstuck was an important issue for other people as well. So I decided to do some research.
I already knew that lack of motivation and difficulty figuring out a topic could result in writer’s block. But what caused them? My research suggested that being blocked generally stems from one (or more) key factors:
Believing your writing should just happen naturally: especially if your writing’s always flowed effortlessly before.
Self-doubt and perfectionism: starting can be almost impossible when you know that nothing’s ever going to be good enough.
No ideas, or too many: either state can get in the way of figuring out what you want to write about. You can also end up talking about something you don’t actually care about, which can feel frustrating and inauthentic.
Distractions: clutter, other programs open on your screen, message notifications, phone calls, or physical discomfort can all hijack your attention. That can make it nearly impossible to maintain a writing flow.
How creating your own stepped writing process can help get you unstuck
Ever heard the proverb about how to eat an elephant? The answer, of course, is “one bite at a time”. And really, the key to beating writer’s block and getting your writing to flow smoothly is exactly the same.
Rather than taking on the daunting task of writing the world’s best blog post/article/whatever from scratch, why not break the process down into manageable steps? Most writers who do this seem to group their steps into three main stages:
A pre-writing stage: where they gather and organise ideas
A writing stage: where they actually create their first draft
A post-writing stage: where they edit and polish that draft until it shines
This kind of stepped process can help you with each of the underlying causes of writer’s block. For example, if you:
Believe writing should happen naturally: being able to fall back on a step-by-step process can be a huge relief. It also allows you to focus purely on the next step, instead of on the giant overall task.
Succumb to self-doubt and perfectionism: if this is an issue, knowing that a godawful first draft is pretty much expected can be a lifesaver. Plus, you know you’ve built in plenty of time and editing space to fix it up!
Have no ideas, or too many of them: many writing processes incorporate specific tools that actually help you decide what to write about. They also help you to generate and organise your ideas within that topic.
Constantly get distracted: decluttering and distraction-clearing techniques are a key part of many writers’ stepped processes.
And that’s where the “Write the Damn Blog Post!” e-book came from
Once I realised how useful a stepped writing process could be, I wanted to help people create their own unique process. Something completely individual to them, that would work for them because theycreated it.
That’s why I developed the “Write the Damn Blog Post!” e-book. In it, I talk about why a stepped process works so well, then briefly describe my own process as an example. But the majority of the book guides you step-by-step through creating your own unique process. It helps you create your own tool for breaking through writer’s block, and getting your writing to flow again.
If you’d like to take the stress and hassle out of regular writing, why not check out the first four chapters completely free?
Bio: About Tanja
Tanja Gardner is a professional copywriter, word weaver and story spinner at Crystal Clarity Copywriting Ltd. She helps difference-makers like you write with concise, creative clarity that your readers intuitively “get”. That means they understand EXACTLY what you offer – so you can make more of a difference in their lives. To connect with Tanja, say hello onTwitter, Facebookor Google+, sign up for her monthly newsletter, or follow herblog.
Plus, you can now download the first four chapters of her e-book, Write the Damn Blog Post!, totally free of charge.
Thank you so much for inviting me in your blog-home, Karina – I really enjoyed writing this post for you and I hope your readers enjoy it!
Thank you for writing, Tanja! I really liked the structure you mention in your post as I sometimes feel like I could really need some more of that : ).
Big hugs, Karina
Wonderful post – thank you, Tanja and Karina! Certain writing (fiction, to be more specific) has flowed naturally for me for most of my life but is a blocked area now, so the one about believing my writing should just happen naturally really struck me.
Yay! So glad this was useful for you, Gin. I know a couple of other people who’ve commented that this is relevant to them too, so I promise, you’re not the only one!
Blessings
TANJA
That’s what I thought too! It was great to read that. Very reassuring.
Thank you for reading, Gin!
Big hugs, Karina