Tackling Writer’s Block- My Recipe
Follow me as I unravel the weakness of this monster (writer’s block); that gets you text lazy, robbing you of all your productive juices and keeping your ink dry.
This post contains affiliate links, so I will earn a commission in the event that the links are utilized to purchase the services and products highlighted in this post, at no extra cost to the user!
What Writer’s Block Could Mean for Most People
Writer’s block could be best described based on the context the individual finds himself, for me, it was just my inability to find writing interesting again.
I started creating blogs and journals a couple of years back and so far I’ve gotten a rich writing collection. But recently something happened and I’m still trying to figure what made me lose the flair and excitement I used to feel when putting words as blocks to create interesting Readings.
Inasmuch I’d say that even back then there were times you feel the fatigue and indifference that comes with writing; however, suffice it to say that I still somehow found some positives that kept me going.
The Genesis
I am a web dinosaur (if that’s even a thing); I got into the intricacies of the web in its early days.
Back then as a kid, I started having this idea of creating a web of text and weaving all my ideas into interesting word patterns (articles, diaries, books, etc.); that most people will read and find amazing. I mean I can rightly say that the idea of creating Web Logs( what we call blogs now), was already in my head.
But since I was not geeky enough to take the step to create the technology, I had to wait for the likes of Yahoo with Geocities and finally Google purchasing blogger, for this to happen.
So when these technologies made their way into the webspace, I started writing with this gusto that I find quaint and indescribable using these platforms to showcase my love for the art.
Then I found out that I can even get paid doing what I love, this was when Content and Article Directories held sway- with EzineArticles, ArticlesBase- leading the pack ( note: I only used the aforementioned places for traffic generation, they do not pay you for writing ).
Holla! Squidoo Lenses!
Then Seth Godin came through with Squidoo, a very interesting and idealistic writing platform that worked with blocks referred to as Lenses.
In a lens, you can insert not just texts, but other interesting modules like images, Videos, and then Amazon products with your Amazon Associate links embedded within these products, making it easy to earn Affiliate commissions when people buy Amazon products you recommended via your post.
With Squidoo, the advent of writing and making money with it happened, not just for me but for so many young and aspiring writers like students looking for ways to subsist their living by earning extra pennies that add up to dollars on the internet.
This platform was just the push I needed to maximize my creativity especially with these incentives brilliantly added to lens owners (Thanks Seth!).
I was averaging $50 a month with my Squidoo Lenses, then I discovered Hubpages.
Hubpages Blues
Hubpages was (oh sorry HubPages is still very much around and did I mention this? Hubpages bought over Squidoo from Seth).
Back to my story, Hubpages was yet another platform like Squidoo, but it came with an interesting twist, one that’ll increase one’s earning potentials, or did it?
Here you can also earn more AdSense dollars via a revenue-sharing system where the platform shares the revenue from Adsense via a 60–40 percent rule. With the Hubber (as we were referred to); keeping sixty while HubPages pocketed the rest.
Now, this was truly one helluva an arrangement and you can also earn more monies via Amazon, Hubpages Ad, then of course external Affiliate links that can easily be inserted into your hubs.
I reached my first Adsense payment threshold thanks to Hubpages and then boom! came the next google algorithm that made this beautiful bubble burst.
First- the Panda, followed by its distant birdlike cousin- the penguin.
Both algorithm changes brought Hubpages as well the likes of Squidoo, Infobarrel, Xomba, etc to their knees, killing these platforms and negatively impacting the earnings of writers using these sites to eek a living.
The Exodus:
Though Panda and Penguin were both wonderful algorithm changes that helped clear the huge Augean Stable of trash and link farms that dominated the internet at that time.
Google made it difficult for peeps who made it a duty to spam the SERPs with poorly worded content, then utilize the power of backlinks gotten from articles and content directories- to rank high!
Disappointed that my earnings have truly dropped to abysmal levels, I began to explore other resources and viable alternatives, to say the least. I made one frantic effort to return to writing on my blogs especially on Blogger, but again the zeal faded off!
This effort was truly inveigled by the fact that even blogs or should I say blogger blogs were greatly affected at the time. The incidence of blog owners waking up to the painful reality of having their hard work getting deleted and flagged for inappropriate content was rife!
The Decline
Many writers evolved and readjusted to the new rules, and many more could not, and sadly I was a part of the many that couldn’t.
I continued writing and advancing my skills in WordPress Development. I built many WordPress sites both for myself and clients.
I even started creating highly “niched” down websites, then another algorithm change came- The Exact Match Algo that took care of sites that spammed their domain with keyword-rich TLDs in order for Google bots to favor them as authority sites.
Though this algo was not as impactful as the other two, it still reduced my interest in creating content, especially written ones for the blogs I created purposely with the “niched” down keywords in their domain names.
Most of the blogs I built died after a year immediately the hosting expired and I was back to square one, wondering in limbo and hoping for the next best thing.
My Medium Foray!
I started writing on medium a couple of years back and though I have read many inspiring stories of Writers who through dedication, consistency, and a never-say-die spirit, have managed to build an interesting portfolio here as Writers, What I call- “online Real Estates”; however the propensity of that happening to me and the greater section of Medium Creatives- can be best equated to zero!
Yes zero!, so I went back to what I know best- Building Websites on WordPress.
I did a couple of articles here, but the analytics were not promising so I took the easy way out- I Quit!
Enough of the rants, the topic of this discourse is centered around beating Writer’s block, so pardon me for taking you through all these babbles. So let’s dive into the main event
The Renaissance
I recently stumbled on an old Notebook I kept, I was actually foraging through some old items and I came across this note and a tinge of nostalgia took over my entire body, I felt this reawakening and the excitement was surging and slowly cascading down. It was so invigorating looking at the brilliance I exuded with the contents I jotted down for development.
The urge to go back to doing what I love came back in full force.
[kindly follow me and also join me in the medium two-article-a-day-contest]
Now to make this happen, I have to fight the biggest monster that has stifled my writing career and watered down my productivity to pitiable levels- WRITER’s BLOCK!
My Beating Writer’s Block Panacea
To fight Writer’s Block, I had to design a five-pronged master plan.
First of all, I asked myself this vital question, and if you are still here reading this, then you really need to ask yourself,
Why am I even writing?
This is the first question, because when the initial motive you mistook for passion wanes, then you need more than just passion to keep doing this.
So if you answered that question truthfully (which I did), I will now reveal my 5 step approach to ending Writer’s Block.
Wake your Lazy Ass up!
Yes, you don’t even need to love writing all the time, as magical as sex can be, it could become quite monotonous when you are not in the mood, likewise writing, but then we gotta do it anyways if not for anything else, then for procreational purposes.
Now, bring this analogy I did with sex into your writing, I don’t necessarily need to like writing every day as espoused in this piece, but because it is something I am passionate about, I just need to rediscover the nexus between triggering my innate “wordsmith” with the real purpose of creating written contents all over again.
In my own case, it was about enlightenment and building relationships, then utilizing these new blocks of friendship in a didactic manner to help others through my personal experiences.
So when you understand this, then the urge to write again will naturally come back.
Now place this in the right context- assuming you were a weight-loss instructor & Expert, and because you are moved by that passion and urgency to help obese people especially through your weight loss tips.
This strong belief that your articles and contents could save even one life can absolutely rekindle that desire to create amazing masterpieces that are helpful to the weight loss society.
Wake that ass up buddy! get your notepad and start jotting!
Start Jotting with the Right Tools
Evernote used to be my favorite Text compositing and writing tool, I even had an Evernote premium subscription which I canceled a couple of days back after I discovered — Notion.
I was reading a tweet of one of the Tweeps I follow on Tech Twitter the other day and he was like:
“you do not have any excuse as to why are you not writing that book especially now there’s Notion…”
Truly speaking, creating articles became a herculean task for me because of the dearth of the right writing tools, especially Desktop Writing tools to get the job done.
But Notion unlike tools like MS Word, Google Doc, and the once favored bride- Evernote, were too bogus and sometimes overwhelming.
The downside to Evernote was the fact that I cannot compose text offline through the desktop application, except I used the mobile app.
Recently the mobile app has been crashing, and come to think of it I cannot write effectively typing from my mobile device (though some people can). I preferred writing on a desktop, so Evernote not having the ability to use the desktop application offline was a huge turnoff for me.
Being online and writing at the same time can be quite distracting, so I need to make use of a desktop application that will invariably help me kill the distractions and write, Notion came to the rescue!
Kill off the Distraction
Social media is the biggest distraction today.
For me to write this piece to this point, I had to push my phone to airplane mode, and trust me I kinda felt this liberating and fulfilling ambiance all over me.
Social media notifications can reduce your productivity.
In a recent Study by Team Lease, it was discovered that the “UNRESTRICTED “usage of social media impacted negatively the productivity of employees in a certain firm.
The Study revealed that Employees spend more than 32 percent of their time on social media which is an average of two hours, thirty-six seconds every day (2 hrs 36 secs).
They were either seen updating their status, checking their emails for notifications, chatting, Tweeting, etc.
Now imagine deducting two and half hours from a normal eight-hour workday as stipulated by 9–5 jobs.
Not forgetting the time taken off for other basic tasks like eating, normal office breaks and even late coming by some staff.
So if you want to write effectively like I am doing now, kill off the distraction and switch off your internet and do it, old school people.
While at it, get yourself a notebook and a pen, start mind-mapping to properly map out your thoughts tactfully.
Utilize Mind-Mapping
Understanding your thoughts and effectively summarizing them by listing the vital points for any article you are creating can save you a ton of time, helping to scale things up and allow you to achieve even more as a writer.
They are many mind-mapping tools available (both free and paid).
But for this particular discussion, my focus is on doing it the old-school, non-distractive way; which is using a notebook and a pen to write things out.
I discovered that when I write things out in my notebook, it becomes easier for me when I am creating the write-up fully.
My Team and I have been planning this end of Year Award for a while now, and for this occasion to be a success, we will require the involvement of Brands for sponsorship, and for the Brands to buy into our sponsorship request, we will need to Write an Effective and convincing Sponsorship Letter.
Now I have been planning to Write a Sponsorship Letter for like forever, and as usual, procrastination (which has become second nature to me whenever writing is involved); kicked in.
The moment I picked up my notebook, brewed myself a cup of coffee, I began crafting the points, the headings, and everything that will make this letter superlative- super easily.
In less than two hours, I created a mind-map. then opened up my computer and viola! the writing was so fluid that I wondered why I haven’t written this letter all this while!
If for instance, I was writing an Article on Weight loss tips- my mind map would look out for the vital point and align them as building blocks to create stunning and feature-rich content that my readers will find useful and Google bots will rank high.
If you are not as old-school as I am, you can make use of modern mind mapping tools like articles forge, writesonic, etc.
I occasionally use these tools and I can say with certainty they are not equally bad, but I highly recommend you to create your content without the use of AI-generated tools, but if you want to scale things up fast and easy, then you can go that route.
Now that you are done with the Mind-map, it is time to get to the nitty-gritty which is- WRITING!
START WRITING
With your mind-map carefully designed, you now have a vivid sample of ideas all littered in your head and ready to be written.
Ensure you have spellchecks enabled in your writing pad, in my own case I use Notion, and the Grammarly desktop app is enabled by default to help me check for wrong-grammar applications as well as wrong spelling.
But recall I am writing offline, and when you are doing so, the Grammarly extension wouldn’t work, but Notion has an inbuilt spellcheck feature, so that should suffice.
Once you are done, you can now switch on your internet access to make use of the Grammarly Extension so that you can check for wrong phrases and grammar. (I just enabled the internet now because I want to go over my content before I export it for publishing.).
Import your Work from Notion and Hit Publish
Now that you are done crosschecking your work for errors and feel satisfied, it is time to hit the publish button.
One other powerful feature of Notion is its compatibility with Medium, it truly retains the format without the need for any extra reformatting.
Hey! Hey Hey! wait! where would I publish my work?
The other issue that really impeded my writing workflow was this confusion of not knowing the right or should I say the proper channel to publish my work.
Should I do so on my Blog?
What about Medium?
The thing is this, I am publishing this article on Medium, I am doing so because of Medium’s community-rich feature that helps you get discovered fast if you write high-quality content.
I also plan to publish momentarily and steadily on my blog, remember Medium has an “IMPORT ARTICLE” feature that enables you to bring in already published articles into Medium with a resource box pointing back to the source.
This is a very wonderful tool and it is also a potent tool for creating high-quality backlinks (though Medium is nofollow site by default), but its SEO worth is quite notable if properly utilized.
What Next after you hit “Publish”?
Facing Writer’s Block is an unending phase or should I say- a cycle in every Writer’s journey, it's a loop that you will have to deal with all the time.
Yes, it is obvious that I have published my first article after coming off my longest and most protracted Writer’s block episode, but to stay at the very top of my game; I have made plans to do the following, so you can also add these tips to increase your chances of making Writer’s Block your favorite b**tch
Read a Book
Books are like food to the brain, it revitalizes the brain keeping it at an optimal level, enabling you to stay creative and up-to-date while ensuring you gain useful and more profound insights.
I plan to read at least one book a week in this new journey of rediscovery even as a Writer. I have already compiled a list of some of the books I will be reading to help me through this period, especially in my quest to stay literally productive.
Look around you for Ideas
Living within the realm of your consciousness and not being carried away by the vagaries and distractions of today’s world could help you see how beautiful the realities around you are.
Take that walk, look deeply and inwardly, stare and ponder, look away, look around, search within, prod your surroundings, ask questions and expand your views about certain topics. watch and learn, relearn and relive these experiences all over again!
Learn a New Skill
With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses Platforms (MOOC) like edX, Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, Skillshare, etc, there has never been a better time to learn a new skill or passion than now.
Post-covid, doing things remotely has become the norm, and for this reason, I did enroll in some skills acquisition program on Udemy.
Currently, I am doing the following courses:
- The Web Development Bootcamp with Colt Steele
- GIMP Masterclass with Michael Davies
- Complete Blender Creator: Learn 3D modeling for Beginners with Rick Davidson & Grant Abbit
You’d ask, why should I attend all these courses, and will the knowledge gained help me in fighting Writer’s Block?
Good Question.
Truly, attending these courses can help carve out new interesting dynamics and approaches to doing things.
The Web Development course for instance has helped me build my profile and increase engagement on Twitter, most notably since I now inculcate the #100daysofCode hashtag in my tweets.
Presently I am thinking of documenting my Web development Learning Journey on a blog, and I will also be posting content here to intimate my readers on how my Web Development Learning Journey is progressing (I urge y’all to kindly follow me so that you can read about those too).
The Knowledge and personal experiences gained from taking these courses will once again keep my ink flowing, ensuring that I don’t easily run out of writing ideas and topics.
Final Thoughts
I am embarking on a two-article-a-day-medium challenge to scale things really up and high. I know it’s not gonna be easy.
They are bound to be distractions, low-points, disappointments, hidden and conspicuous upheavals but I plan to stay focused and I also believe strongly in my resolve to surmount all these obstacles to re-establish myself, not just as a great writer in 2022, but also a better version of everything that speaks me.
Well, that’s my five-step approach to fighting writer’s block, hey! I think it's more than five y’all, yes seven because I believe in seven figures.
If you are a seven-figure believer like me, ensure you enroll in this course on how to build your seven-figure brand in 2022!
The New System to Launch an Online Business in 2021
(the above link is an affiliate link, I will earn a commission when you sign up for the webinar)
Thanks for reading, please ensure you drop your comments, likes, clap, and endeavor to share this, it will be highly appreciated, my lovely people!
