You’ve hit writer’s block… now what?

When it comes to blogging consistently, every blogger has a story tell. It doesn’t matter if you are paid to write professionally or are writing about zombies, at some point, each blogger will run out of things to write. We call this writer’s block, but I would prefer to see it as an opportunity to change direction.

When I started my blog, my intention was to have it as some sort of an online journey where I would document everything about my daughter. In case you haven’t noticed, besides the name of the blog, there really isn’t much mention of my kid! Don’t worry, she’s still safe and hasn’t disowned me – yet! But the direction of the blog has changed regardless.

Don’t let writer’s block dim your shine. Switch it up!

Many bloggers preach about consistency in order to see results. But when you hit writer’s block, you might just need to switch things up a bit! If your blog is predominantly a food blog and you have run out of recipes, why not throw in a post about the author? You could easily throw together a few paragraphs about what inspired you to write about food. (Remember my post about Portuguese recipes to try out? Now you know my dirty little secret!) The same goes for any niche out there. Taking a small break from your niche to write about something more personal will not only give you the much-needed break, but it will also allow your readers to get to know you as a writer.

What I have found works best is to have a list of go-to topics for those days when I cannot find words. That is when you notice I will respond to tags or write about my personal experiences. My list looks something like this:

• 5 Things I cannot live without
• What to do when you are bored
• How to stay consistent without being consistent
• How I really feel about the lockdown restrictions
• If I could be anyone for a day, I would pick…
• How my mental health has changed over the past year

Pretend you didn’t see the last one because that’s actually a post coming out soon!

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.

Search for inspiration in your daily life

Funny enough, the blog posts that my readers like the most are the ones that take little to no planning at all. It may well be because I tend to write about whatever silly question pops into my mind. Or it could just be that my writing is less restricted when I don’t stick rigidly to a certain topic. Whatever the case, I tend to use my millennial life crises as inspiration for my posts.

Of course, if you have a very narrow niche, your liberties may be limited. But for those in the lifestyle, mental health, wellness, and parenting niches, you can write about anything under the sun. Think about it, you accidentally stepped on a bug that was under the sun and it made you feel sad. It could’ve triggered an emotion you felt a few years ago (mental health) or could be a lesson you want to teach your child not to do (parenting). Some of you might see it as an opportunity to talk about saving the environment or even caring for the bugs (wellness/veganism?). In my case, it could be grounds for writing about how to keep bugs out of your home (lifestyle).

It’s a very silly example, but if you take this approach, even 900 words on paint could turn out to be a brilliant post.

Take a break… to gather ideas

Recently, I took a week off blogging to refresh my mind. When I say I took a week, I actually spent close to a month without writing anything because my brain was fried. I was just lucky enough to have weeks of content scheduled to go live. If you feel like you need it, there’s no shame at all. We are all human and need to take breaks. The biggest issue is sticking to the timelines you have established for yourself and ensuring that you get right back at it.

So here’s a weird concept that you might not particularly agree with – when you’re on your break, still write your ideas down. What’s the point of taking a break if you’re just going to use it to write, you ask. Well, it’s simple. Taking a break doesn’t mean you can’t jot down ideas that you can revisit later. You might actually get the best ideas when you’re on your break! There’s just something about mental clarity that makes it so much easier to be creative.

You may also like : When should you take a break from blogging?

Ask your readers what they want to read

I generally use this with caution as I would not like to turn my blog into a Q&A that only covers topics for others. Blogging should first satisfy you as a writer, and only then the reader. Many people say you should write for your readers, and that is somewhat true. But if you spend your days just writing about celebrity gossip even though you don’t enjoy Keeping Up with them, then you will hit a wall. And when you hit that wall, I will try very hard not to say “I told you so”.

So how then can you write to please your readers while still keeping yourself satisfied? It’s simple – use social media, polls, check out what questions they leave on your blog posts… The list goes on. When it comes to polls. you essentially pick topics that you want to write about and let the public choose. Win-win! If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then you could always just check what the most searched topics are on Google and pick the one that suits you. Don’t know how to do it? You probably haven’t been reading my posts, so I will give you this tip one last time. It’s called Answer the Public (you’re welcome!)

Just start writing and your writer’s block may go away

It’s as simple as that! Oftentimes, I just do not feel inspired to write at all. So I pick up my laptop and start writing about not wanting to write. Next thing you know, I have a full blog post about writer’s block! Such a weird concept right? There will be days that brilliant posts come from your doodles, but other times you’ll type three words. The thing is, you will never know until you try it.

So, my fellow writers, what are some things you do to overcome writer’s block?