Defeat Blogger’s Block with Free Writing - Power Productivity #1

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This post is the first in an on-going series of posts on increasing your productivity as a blogger. Read Part 2, Part 3

Every blogger has to face this one time or another in their blogging careers. You sit down to write a post but, your mind is empty. The words don’t come out. The cursor blinks and blinks and blinks…

That’s what is called blogger’s block; and it is exactly like writer’s block, except that it happens to bloggers.

But, there is an amazing technique employed by novelists and other writers to battle writer’s block and it can quite easily be used for blogger’s block too. It’s called free writing.

To explain it in simple terms and very non-technical terms, free writing helps exercise your right brain, which makes the flow of ideas and thoughts in your mind easier, with lesser obstacles to overcome. The result is that this flow of thoughts also creates ideas that you can write about.

That’s All Well and Good. But How Do I Do It?

Free writing is not a difficult thing to do, but it requires concentration and a place where you can free write without being disturbed. Also, you need the determination to keep writing non-stop.

It’s recommended you use a digital alarm clock to time your self. Also, you can free write using anything that’s comfortable to you, such as typing on your computer or simply writing in pen.

So, first, make your self comfortable in a disturbance free environment. Set the alarm clock to 5 or 10 minutes(hide it somewhere so you don’t keep checking the time ).

Then, start writing!

Write non-stop, whatever comes to your mind, no matter how nonsensical or stupid it is. Just keep writing, even if you have to write ‘My mind is blank’ over and over again. Even that can lead to something.

Don’t worry about grammatical errors or typos. Forget proper punctuation. The most important thing for you now is to KEEP WRITING what ever comes to your mind. Don’t worry if one paragraph is about cooking but the next one about cricket. Just keep writing!

Don’t stop writing until time is over. Then, read over everything you’ve written and try to find connections between the different items of what you’ve written. You’re bound to find several of these, which will give you fantastic post ideas. As soon as you find a connection, jot it down on paper to prevent you from forgetting it.

By committing all your thoughts to paper, you establish a constant stream of thoughts in your mind which makes it easy for ideas to make themselves aware of their presence.

Free writing doesn’t take much time; you need only 10 to 20 minutes of it everyday. But, the benefits are great. From as little as two pages of free writing, you can yield 5 to 10 or even more post ideas!

The Other Benefits Of It

Apart from the productivity related benefits, free writing has other benefits too. For example, it helps you become a better writer and you connect different ideas more effectively. It also makes you believe in your self as a good writer, and stops you from criticising your self. But most importantly, it makes you more comfortable as a writer, and gives you more confidence.

Related Reading

Here’s a list of articles on free writing that might interest you:

• Free writing on the MST website
• Free Writing - Battling Bloggers Block
• Free Writing

Now, your turn to speak up. Have you ever tried free writing? If so, has it helped you defeat blogger’s block and, most importantly, increase productivity?

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