Once upon a time you used to feel like you were a creative genius with overflowing ingenious ideas. You created masterpieces by pouring your thoughts as you typed rigorously on your keyboard. But now it seems like your generous idea machine inside your mind has suddenly stopped working. You have lost your muse. You feel frustrated as you stare blankly on your computer screen as you type and erase the same sentence again and again. Congratulations! You are facing the classic case of writer’s block!
Do not get overwhelmed by this frustrating nuisance of writer’s block as we are going help you conquer it with these techniques allowing you to open your mind to new ideas.
1. Give yourself a break
Take a deep breath! Writing is an art requiring lots of creativity. And creativity perishes under pressure. Set yourself free from the pressure of writing. Trying too hard can be counterproductive by triggering an anxiety cycle that keeps you out of your creative writing brain. So stop fighting and find another way. Take a short coffee break, watch a movie or go out and meet some friends. You’ll be amazed at how effective these breaks can be for clearing your mind and get the ideas flowing. A short break from your writing table may be what you need to get a great blog topic.
2. Catch Up with new trends:
See what people are talking about in and out your domain. Find what is catching people’s attention from trends in twitter, Google plus and other social media. Read articles posted in niche groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Check out the questions asked in yahoo answer, answer.com and other forums. Sometimes even those long arguments of the strangers over something insignificant in an internet may shower you with exciting topics to write about.
3. Read:
Reading doesn’t just keep you updated with what is going on but also helps you create new ideas of your own. And you can always write reviews of the books you read recently. If you don’t have time to read an entire book, just check out the table of contents of top selling books and magazines of your niche. You may find a topic that provides the inspiration for your new series of posts, or just take out enough rust to reinvigorate your existing ideas.
4. Peep into other’s Blog:
Read blogs from the fellow blogger of your industry. Find out what they are writing about. Other people’s ideas are a great source of sparking new ones of your own. You can even write on the same topic they wrote with your own perspectives and ideas. Read the comments on the posts as well to build on the topic and generate even more ideas.
5. Reader’s Opinion:
Sometimes your readers will tell you what they want to hear from you, so start listening to them. Get ideas on topics to write about from your readers’ comments on your blog, email, Facebook or Twitter. You can even create a poll about a topic and review the response received. Ask your readers what they think of a particular subject and let readers share their thoughts. This interaction will rekindle the interest of the readers and you may get some fresh insight to add to the articles.
6. Write for yourself:
Enough of writing what others want you to write. Ignore what is the subject of your blog and write for yourself. Great piece of writing comes from the heart of the writer. Follow your heart and write what you always wanted to write about. Write about your struggle, success or what you wish you had known before.
7. Go out of your domain:
Try exploring a new topic that might be slightly outside your comfort zone or regular domain. Keeping with the latest developments in your industry can be exhausting, so freshen up your perspective by stepping into new domains. Find what people from other industry are doing and how it is related to yours. This can provide the challenge and excitement to get new ideas flowing into your mind.
8. Read your old blog posts:
Go back to your old blog posts and read your old topics. In this ever changing world, many changes must have occurred about the topic of your old posts. You can restructure and reinvent your old topic for a fresh new delivery. You can bring new life to old blog posts by finding recurring themes and topics or shaping them new compilation posts. You can even write the part two of some interesting blog topics that caught your reader’s attention and ride off the success of your most popular content by turning it into a series.
9. Follow the expert! Or Don’t:
Read an expert view about topics in your industry. Try agreeing with him or if you can’t, disagree with valid reasons. Challenge the status quo with a unique perspective. You can also interview an expert in your field and share the interview with your readers. Getting an expert to speak on your blog will also help you get new readers for the blog.
The dreadful writer’s block can be infuriating, but it doesn’t have to be a complete productivity killer. So keep calm and find out what works best for you to clear out your creative blockage.
