We have all been there before. You have an assignment waiting and no word is coming out. The coming deadline is stressing you out and only lead you to more procrastination. What can be done when facing a creative block?
The scenario
Recently I got quite a challenging assignment.
The client only gave two lines of a brief without any clarification. He then disappeared into the great wild world of the Internet and was unresponsive to all my questions. The deadline was coming and with a brief as clear as a midnight sky without the moon, I started panicking.
I walked around the house anxiously while making strangle mumbles that started worrying my poor perplexed husband. Had he not known my job as a content writer, he probably would have started questioning this very life choice.
But I had an assignment to do. And the obvious truth is, procrastination would *definitely* not putting words in the screen for you.
So I sat down on the table and started my "creative block"'s protocol.
The protocol
You need to start typing. Doesn't matter what it is, once you have started the gear, the machine will start moving either at or around the "block". "But what do I start with when my mind is completely blank?" you would ask? Well, if it's blank, you fill it up! And that is when you can start with...
Research about the topic. Get on your search engine of choice and start typing in the topic's keywords. Remember to select the latest time for your search result (Underneath your Search Bar, go to Tools -> Any time -> Select the time frame you like). Read through as much as you can about everything people have said about the topic. Do their answers satisfy you? If yes, you can try writing some opinions about it. If no, well that's a topic for you to write about.
Collect interesting points and string them in together. One issue with researches is the sheer amount of information you collect as a result. This is where you need to use your experience and skills to filter out information that is relevant to your brief and the target audience you are writing for. (With unclear briefs, you have to propose a target audience yourself or it's like a shoot in the dark. That's why I was stressing out so much with the assignment in the scenario!). Then string them in together in a logical way.
Refine your framework. Once you have had a few bullet points for your work, it's time to refine the frame. Layer them out neatly, add in any points you think are missing from the research, add in supporting evidence and their sources (Don't forget to check the reliability of your source as well!). And there you have it, a content frame waiting for you to fill in. The sky (and word limit) is your limit. The time to unleash your inner artist is NOW!
Proof-read the work. At least 3 times! Now that you have had the work on the table, always proofread the work many times before sending it away. It's like you have just given birth to a baby. If you spend every hour every day with him/her, you will never notice if there is something wrong. You can start with the first read-through, then have a 30 minutes coffee/tea break, come back and read it again. Run the work through all proofreading software that you have. I usually use Microsoft Word's spell check and Grammarly. If you have any keen friends, ask for their help proofreading your work as well. Then come back and read it again before submitting.
And now your article is ready.
Conclusion
After five years of writing contents, I have learned that the most difficult thing about a creative block is your fear of it.
Maybe you fear that your work won't be good enough. But hey, if it hasn't been written out yet, it can't be bad! It can't be good either though.
Maybe you fear the fact that you don't have any idea at all to write. The good thing is, for most types of content, there are usually published things about the topic on the Internet already. You just have to find them to have some ideas. What I usually use is a combination of Answer The Public, Moz's Keyword Explorer and Google Trends. If you know what people are looking for, you will know what you should write about to answer those questions. I think it's quite a methodology approach to writing content. But then again, if you write for a living, you can't just sit there all day and wait for the God of Muse to bestow on you a creative surge right? Nobody is paying for that!
Maybe after all the procrastination, a new fear starts growing on you that you will not make the deadline. All students have gone through that. Even working professionals won't be able to run away from the terror of the submission time. To counter it, you just have to sit down and start typing. Anything would do, even the brief or topic line would help start the gear.
But what if all these reasonings don't work because you are already panicking like how I was at the beginning of the post? Well... You cut off your wreaking-havoc neurons with a glass of wine. I am not an alcoholic (my tolerance is half a can of beer, believe or not), but magically, it worked! At least for this assignment that I had to do. It was submitted just fine and I am free to start a new project, like this blog that I am writing. So who cares if it involves a bit of alcohol, I overcame my creative block and an assignment was done on time.
So how do you overcome your creative block? Does my protocol work for you? Chat with me or share your tips in the comment section. I would love to hear from you and avoid resorting to alcohol next time.
Comments