Writer’s Block

Happy Friday, everyone!

The consistency of this newsletter is slowly turning into the consistency of the batter of the first cake I ever baked: it looks like it’s fine on the surface but something’s not quite right. The cakes eventually have gotten a lot better over the years, and so will this newsletter.

At least I am somehow managing to get one out every week. You’ve got to celebrate the small wins, right?

Today’s topic is a bit of a cheat. In addition to not being able to make time to write these out in advance, a big reason for my consistent delays is my writer’s block. I just don’t know what to write about; it’s like thoughts evade me at times. But Tuesday turned into Wednesday into Thursday and now, it’s Friday night and I still cannot get myself to write.

So, I just started writing about writer’s block. And that’s where we’re at!

When Words Won’t Whisper

I am what you would call an accidental writer. One day I took pen to paper because I had no other way of processing my emotions, and that was it. I have been writing ever since. More often than not, my writing process is guided by my emotions. Words come to me, and I just vomit them out on a piece of paper (the laptop screen, but you get the idea).

But when churning out words is a part of your job description, you cannot wait for inspiration to strike. Writer’s block can gravely affect your daily schedule as a content marketer. Deadlines get missed, tasks go in backlog, campaigns have to wait.

There’s a whole lot at stake at the whims and fancies of these wretched words.

So, what do you do? Let’s find out together (quite literally, since I am finding the answers as I write this piece. Talk about real-time interactions!).

1. Don’t Think. Just Start Writing.

If I would still be sitting down and thinking about what and how to write this week’s newsletter, there’s no way I would get it done. I pushed myself to just start writing, and so far, I haven’t stopped. Sounds crazy, but it works.

Of course, there has to be some thought when creating premium content for your workplace. But to get started, that thought does not need to be yours. Go over the brief, the meeting notes and start listing down the requirements. You know that feeling when someone is describing their ask and you think to yourself, “well, that sounds about right, why don’t you just write that down yourself?” (or does that only happen to me?), do that. If you have the meeting recording, start writing down what the stakeholder is suggesting. If you have a written brief, even better.

The idea behind this is to get the engine rolling. Once you start listing things down, more and more thoughts will start coming to you. Capitalize on that feeling, do a little research, and you should be good to go.

2. Complete Less Critical, Easy-to-do Tasks

You know that social media copy that you don’t want to write? Or that landing page content for a lengthy whitepaper that you’re putting off until absolutely necessary? Do those. One, it will give you an instant mood boost when you can mark off a task as “done” on your checklist. And two, it is far less daunting a task to accomplish. Once you complete a couple of these low-intensity tasks, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on more time-consuming tasks. Remember, just because there’s bigger fish to fry doesn’t mean the smaller ones don’t need to be cooked!

Speaking of focus…

3. Keep Away from All Distractions

Microsoft Teams and Outlook are essential tools that are enabling seamless collaboration among co-workers. But sometimes, it is this very collaboration that can get you. People tend to think of WhatsApp or Instagram and the likes as distracting apps, but in a professional environment, the biggest offender can be our very own professional tools.

Don’t get me wrong; of course it is essential to be available to your team and the rest of the organization. But there is something as being too available. Before you can embark upon the seemingly impossible journey of completing that one huge project you cannot wait to finish off, lo and behold, you find yourself in the middle of the following:

A random meeting invite where you have no idea why you’re pulled in
A critical meeting invite that you are not prepared for
A colleague wanting to connect for a “quick call”
A string of messages on the group chat talking about a different task
A notification about a new priority added to your task bucket
Multiple reminders about that upcoming meeting in 15, once on Teams, once on Outlook
And more
Many, many more!

Even though all of these are things that need to be done eventually, these notifications and emails can take your focus away more quickly than you even realize. I have lost count of the number of times I had to either re-start or abandon a task because someone called me for a “quick connect” that resulted in me losing my train of thought completely.

It might sound counterintuitive, logging out from Teams and Outlook helps tremendously. It’s not something you can do as a long-term solution, of course. But if you want to achieve “flow,” you need to give yourself a couple of hours of complete digital silence to focus on the task at hand.

4. Read Everything You Can Get Your Hand On

Okay, not “everything” everything, but research on the topic you intend to write about and read as many articles, discussions, blogs, etc. as you can. Or, if you prefer, watch a couple of YouTube videos on the topic. Listening works better for some people.

Why?

Well, the more information you gather on a subject, the more it might interest you, give you new ideas, and help you jot down pointers for your content piece. Plus, it will help you stitch together your own perspective on the topic and generate fresh ideas.

And since the generating ideas has now entered the chat…

5. Use ChatGPT to Help You Out

I know, I know, I started my whole newsletter journey by taking pot-shots at ChatGPT but hear me out. Using ChatGPT to write the complete assignment for you is a terrible idea. Using it to generate ideas, outlines, and initial drafts, on the other hand, is brilliant, efficient, and timesaving.

Don’t think of AI tools as a hack to replace doing actual work. Think of them more like super intelligent search engines that can bring information from a wide range of sources into a single screen. Or like an intern who you know is no good at professional writing but excels in creating layouts and identifying what needs to be said, and where.

Once you have either your skeletal structure or first draft from ChatGPT, it becomes a lot easier to work off it. The result ends up being nowhere close to what you started with. And, the content you create perfectly reflects your take on the subject without the need to spend hours on the research side of things.

When used intently and intelligently, ChatGPT can be the perfect assistant for marketing professionals.

And there you have it. 5 ways to get out of your writer’s block and create quality content. This newsletter itself is the perfect testament to the efficacy of the first method. I just started writing it without spending too much time with my thinking hat on, and this ended up being the lengthiest newsletter I have written so far.

Not bad for someone with writer’s block, eh?