How to Overcome Writer’s Block as a Blogger

As a blogger, you probably know that updated content is the most important thing in your blog. It keeps your website at the top of its relevance and generates more income for you. Many times, however, being productive can be quite the challenge as many bloggers struggle with writer’s block.

It is a pretty common issue for any writer, but especially for those who rely on new content every other day. There are, however, many tips and techniques that a writer can adopt to overcome those issues and return to their productive schedule.

We will discuss some of the most efficient solutions when you get struck by writer’s block and what tips you should adopt once you think you are afflicted by it.

Analyze Trending Topics

Many times, the problem of the writer’s block is not knowing what to write about. Well, you should try to turn to the internet when those times come, as you can find many recurrent or trending topics that you can get inspired by.

Writing about things that are relevant today, is many times the best way to generate income through your blog, as people like to remain informed and updated on everyday news and situations.

You should check news websites, or social media platforms to understand what people are talking about. You can use Facebook, check the trends on Twitter, look at Reddit’s first page, or have a look at Buzzfeed even to search for such subjects.

There are also aggregate trending content software that analyses the different trending topic at any given time, so you can always write about relevant topics that can, in turn, bring more traffic to your blog.

Update Your Old Content

If you are feeling uninspired, have a look at your old blog posts, you must have pieces there that stopped being relevant quite some time ago and could use an update.

You can use those posts to rewrite them until they are relevant again, or write them once again from scratch even. This is a great technique to overcome your writer’s block, and in the process, turn your old pieces of writing into relevant ones.

Search Frequently Asked Questions

In order to write about relevant topics, it is important that you know what are the most frequently asked questions in a given subject. When you do that, you are providing a solution for a problem, or in this case, providing an answer to a frequently asked question.

This is one of the best ways to make sure you get traffic on your website and you are always trending. All you need to do is to look for questions. Using search engines like Google, you can just type in the first words of a given topic and you will usually get a drop-down menu where you can see the most searched variations of the words you have just written.

Use that as a guideline to write your content, and at the same time, you are providing a much needed answer for relevant questions.

Get a Content Calendar

Sometimes, instead of not knowing what to write about, we get overwhelmed by the things that we need to do and we get writer’s block because of that. There are so many things to be done that our brains can’t process all the information.

That’s when you need a content calendar. Also called an editorial calendar, or just a marketing calendar, is a tool that allows you to write down topic ideas, as well as help you plan what to write in the upcoming weeks or months.

Another feature of this tool is the ability to keep track of the progress of your posts, such as drafts, editings or promotions. This way you don’t need to waste time searching for what topics to write about and keep a continuous workflow that doesn’t allow you to have writer’s block.

Do Something Different

One of the main reasons for writer’s block is that we are constantly doing the same things over and over. Sometimes we need to change things up, and allow ourselves to do something different.

There are many things that you can do regarding that. Many times, it doesn’t even need to have anything to do with writing. You can, for instance, change the place where you work. If you work at your desk every day, perhaps a change of scenery will help you. Other times instead of making a cup of coffee, make a cup of tea. It’s the small changes that can make a real difference and allow you to step out of your routine and feel fresh once again.

It is all about a change in perspective. Once you feel that something has changed, you will feel renewed.

Use the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is being used successfully by many writers and other creatives as a way to create a habit. The technique consists of having short bursts of focus, usually 20 to 25 minutes where you just focus on the task at hand. After that time has passed, give yourself a 5 minute break and continue for another 20-25 minutes.

Repeat it until your goal is accomplished. This is a great technique because it allows you to focus on a certain task for a short time. That way, your brain is not tricked into thinking that you have a massive task ahead of you, but instead a few short tasks. Plus the fact that you take a 5 minute break every 20-25 minutes allows you to refocus your energy and give your brain some rest.

Have a Deadline

Some people work better under pressure. If that’s the case with you then, perhaps setting a deadline will let you out of that writer’s block that you have been struggling with.

If you create blog posts every week, for instance, make sure that you set a specific day of the week where you are going to do that. If you choose a Wednesday, then make sure every Wednesday you have got a new blog post to publish.

If you need certain accountability, advertise your deadlines to your followers so they will be expecting a post from you on the day of your deadline.

This technique is not for everyone, and some people prefer to work at their own pace, but if you need to feel the pressure in order to be more productive then, setting a deadline is a great technique for you to try.

Change The Way You Write

How you write can sometimes be the reason for your writer’s block. Sometimes a simple change in the way you write can mix things up and allow you to be more productive.

Many times a sort of medium change can do wonders. As a blog writer, you might be used to writing on your laptop, perhaps a change to pen and paper, or even a change to a recording podcast or video allow your creativity to flourish and your writing to become less of a boring task.

Define the Best Time to Write

Everyone is different, and the best time for your writing might be in the early morning, or late in the afternoon. Whatever it is, everyone has one, and you should try to find out when that is for you so you can become more productive and schedule those times for your writing.

In much the same way, everyone has the best time for editing, and those can be very different times. You could be a lot more efficient at writing just after your first coffee, and your editing skills might be much better in the afternoon after you are done with all the writing throughout the day.

Check Other Bloggers for Inspiration

There is nothing wrong with reading other blog posts to get inspiration for your own. However, do not copy any content you find. It is wrong and you would probably get caught in plagiarism which can be very damaging to your writer’s career.

Saying that doing a quick search on the internet about a topic that interests you or scanning through another blogger’s post to get inspiration is perfectly fine.

In fact, if you find a really good post on a subject that you are writing about, you can even link that post to your blog post. It will not only make your blog content better in terms of quality, but it will also perhaps create a collaboration for the future. You never know where opportunities come from and making connections is always a good way to improve your writing and portfolio.

Write What You Know

Many times, we get stuck on certain sections of a blog post. The best way to move forward is to continue to write what we know about. If the middle section of your post is hard to write, move over and finish the other sections that you know. After you are done, come back and sometimes you look at it with different eyes and the creative juice starts to flow again.

Sometimes our writer’s block is just a matter of perspective and we need to be exposed to something different to be able to get our brain to connect with what we are writing.

Start in the Middle

This is a variation of the above tip. But a great technique that many writers use is to start their posts right in the middle. So they skip any introduction to the topic and jump right into the interesting content.

That way, you write about the subject and once you have a better idea of what you have written, you can move on to the introduction, or to the conclusion. It is one way of doing things and changing up your routine.

Use a Mind Map

This tip has to do with planning and consists of gathering the main ideas of your blog post topic and writing them down. Once you have got that down, write any subtopics under the main ideas and you have got the whole structure of your blog post or at least a defined idea of it.

This not only helps with your writer’s block, but it might be beneficial for the structure of your blog post. This is many times the biggest issue seen in blog writers.

This is also a great way to start all of your blog posts, as many writers find it easier to write when they don’t have to think about structure when they are writing.

Write a Bad First Draft

Sometimes all we need is to get the words out. And what is better than pouring the words out on a terrible first draft? Many of us are afraid to write a bad draft, even if sometimes we do it subconsciously because we believe that no amount of editing will ever be able to salvage such a bad piece of written content.

The truth is, editing can do wonders for your writing. You need to put the content of the subject out, and then with a clear head, organize it and write better sentences.

Allow yourself to write a bad first draft so you write down your main ideas, and then with time, edit them to perfection.

Conclusion

There is no writer that has never been through writer’s block. It is something that happens to all of us, but that shouldn’t bring us down. Instead, we should try to get around the issue, and continue writing.

There are many techniques and tips that you can use to overcome writer’s block and start writing again. In this article, we have written some of the best advice you can use when you find yourself stuck in a piece of writing.

Not every technique will be useful for you, but you need to try them in order to know what works for you and what doesn’t. Once you know, you can start to use them and become more productive even when the writer’s block happens. Now, you don’t have an excuse to continue procrastinating!