I am by no means a good writer at least not very much so today. But I can assure you I am indeed a writer getting back into my critically acclaimed writing style. And like the title of this article states: I will explain how you and I will overcome writer's block.

So what is writer's block?

Writer's block is a phenomenon experienced by writers that are best described as an overwhelming feeling of being stuck in the writing process without the ability to move forward and write anything new.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-writers-block-how-to-overcome-writers-block-with-step-by-step-guide-and-writing-exercises

Since my last 5 posts, my last article was posted 5 months ago. I’m slowly getting back into it. For I believe I’ve finally overcome procrastination and writer's block. There are countless amounts of books, blogs, and articles you name it that exist. So finding something original to write about can be very difficult. As a writer you are faced with the overwhelming fact, there are millions of other content people have written before. There’s always a better writer, more reflective and introspective content that other readers may prefer. 

By the way, I’ve created a FREE productivity outline “The guide to overcoming writer's block” that can be found on the download page and seen below. Better PAID versions are on the way.

I hope you’ll find that guide/outline useful. I will be going over 5 points and solutions revolving around writer's block. This will make sense of the outline so be sure to download it. Now let’s dive in.

1. Writers' fatigue

Creating content whether it may be for a book, blog post, or social media post; requires a bit of thinking and planning. To write an article writers will spend hours to days writing it. Books months to years.

A typical writing process looks like this:

This isn’t everything but this is why it takes years to write a best-selling book. Why do blogs have 2-3 posts per month? No one is perfect, and writing takes time. Even the best writers need time. There are mountains of writers who are also co-listed to help with the overall story, picture, and point of whatever’s being written. Just look into ANY book, you’ll see other names attached to it besides the listed author.

It’s not to say there isn’t a one-person army. I’m one, and it's a struggle. Hell... I had to quit my job to get any real work done. There are teams attached to successful blogs for a reason. There are layers of filters that a single post has to go through before it is posted.

So what’s the point? The point is that this is a lot of work. This amount of work enacts writer fatigue. Thus this may put a block on your writing. For instance, I enjoy writing, but the amount of work that goes into it eventually catches up to me. The same goes for coding which is my favorite thing to do in the world.

2. The well is dry

Another element of writer's block is that you are fresh out of new ideas. The well is simply dry. You think you’ve come up with everything there is to say. This can be either the current project you writing or the next.

Solution: Regardless of if you are a blogger or an author of a book. There is similar content available for you to look at. When I’m out of ideas I seek inspiration elsewhere. For instance, this platform has a blog. The bulk of the content on the blog revolves around self-help, personal development, and entrepreneurship. So I look to blogs that are posting the same such as “The Penny Hoarder”, & “Alux”.

3. Break time

Hey, you're working too hard! Take a break, it's okay. I do it all the time, I take strategic breaks.

Solution: In fact, I use a well-known technique called the Pomodoro technique. This is simply working for 25 minutes and then taking a break for 10-15 minutes. For this method, it's good to use a timer to alert you at each 25-minute interval, then again on break times. Rinse and repeat.

More times than often I’ll work for several hours take a break for minutes to an hour then get back to work for hours. Often the entire night or day... Or I’ll work for hours and take small breaks every so often. I’ve been known to work at libraries from opening to closing of nonstop work.

Also, go for a walk, go on a bike ride, walk, or drive to the grocery store. Do something adjacent to what you're doing. It’s okay to give your brain a break. I love biking and working out. I also love watching anime, movies, and shows, and listing to music. I’ll speak on multitasking down below, you can give your brain a break, and work at the same time. Or vice versa it’s sort of like keeping your brain at an equilibrium.

4. Logging/ Stockpiling

Ideas won’t pop into your head 24/7, like we mentioned the good runs dry. So what happens when an idea for whatever your writing presents itself?

Solution: You Log it. Whether you are at the grocery store, at home, with friends, you name it you can always log your idea. So what is logging? It is as it sounds, you log the idea. It can either be titles for the next article, ideas to put in your current article, notes, book ideas chapter outlines, or whatever that may be.

Logging creates a stockpile of ideas you can return to when the well runs dry. For instance, you are a content creator, and blogger. Your site needs to constantly be posting articles to keep your readers engaged. If the content stops you, you loose readers. So when the well runs dry, you’ll have a stockpile of work to keep the content posting.

I have a folder saved on my computer with a list of pre-written articles with titles and outlines. The same goes for books I started, ideas, plans, and so on. Notion is an app I often talk about that I have ideas logged and stockpiled. It has a desktop, IOS, and Android app, all linked to the same server so you can jot down and store your ideas no matter what device you're working on. You don’t have to stay exclusive to Notion there are dozens of apps out there that you can use.

5. Batching

Ideas may come in waves, if not you already have tons of work stockpiled in your logs. Batching is a good way to get a lot of work done at one time. And it is as it sounds, you get a lot of work done at once. If you're a blogger this is a perfect, way to combat a busy life. Not everyone is at the point where they can write full-time for themselves. So batching is a great option to keep the post coming and not miss upload schedules.

So how do you implement batching effectively? You do this on your alone time. This is time that you may have off from work, family, taking care of the kids, and so forth. Let's say you work 5-6 days a week. There is a day when you won't be working. Or perhaps there are days when you have a few hours free. Take that time you have off to pile in as much work as possible. If you have a weekly posting schedule. The day or time you have free can be used to write 2-3 articles at one time.

So a question you may ask is. How can you do this and maintain quality? Well there in-lies the question. You do this by writing as much as possible, then polishing up your work during the in-between time. For instance, on a weekend you write 3 articles. Then you tweak add, update, and polish them; getting them ready to be posted when it's time to post them.

During my posting process, I take an article and prep it to be posted. I proofread, update, add images, links, and so on. This process takes hours but the majority of the work is done. However, if you want quality work, allocating several hours to days to one article is recommended. If you also have a job, and various other things going on; Time will be a fleeting factor making it almost impossible to manage the work without help.

6. Multitasking

So your having trouble coming up with ideas? One solution I do is by doing multiple things at once. If you're like me your brain may hit a pause every so often. Where you can’t think of anything. When I do multiple things at once I create many ideas while my brain juices are flowing.

Since you are working and learning at the same time (your brain is on fire) thus the ideas will come at a higher rate. Sort of like giving your brain a jolt of electricity to bring it back to life.

Hard to grasp, okay… Let’s say you're sitting at your computer working. Try having a small window open or maybe a YouTube video. If your blog is about health & fitness. Have a video about health & fitness playing while you work. By watching the video and working at the same time. You will get ideas…

Okay, now... I think you get the picture… I try to keep myself engulfed in my topic by consuming many videos on what my platform is about. And the ideas just keep coming. I’ll read other books while I work… Let’s pause. That statement takes practice. So I recommend while you're trying the Pomodoro technique I mentioned earlier, try reading related content during your 10-15 minute breaks… Keep trying it until you're able to have a window open of a post or pdf side by side of whatever you're working on. Or take breaks in between your work. Read then work, until it happens simultaneously. I used to have music playing while I read and write, I’d be zoned in for hours forgetting to eat. I need to get back into that.

7. Freelancing

I’ll make this one quick. This is self-explanatory; you outsource the work either partially or entirely to other professionals. Those ideas we have stockpiled, not to mention all the work there is to do on a well-written piece. Remember we mentioned this in Writers' Fatigue? Have a freelancer take all that stress away from you; again either entirely or partially.

A freelancer can range in any skill or profession from design to written language translation. They can be found on many platforms. I’m on my top 3, I’ve used Fiver once. Perhaps I should use them more often So I can make time for other things.

1. Fiver

1. Freelancer

1. Upwork

And there are dozens more check out this article below.

Writers fatigue, don’t fall victim to this. Blog platforms have employees for a reason. Big YouTubers have a team for a reason. Hiring freelancers helps. If originality is a big factor to you as it is to me. Write the blog at least 30% of it, have a decent outline, get your tone across then have a freelancer, team, or employee finish it. What was written is still you, someone else just finished what you wrote.

Look at it this way Beyonce has 10 -12 writers for some songs. Jay-Z who “writes” his music has a team of producers to edit, and compile his work after he records. Kanye West has a team of producers and writers that finish his work, based on his unfinished work, ideas, notes, and instructions.

Hired help takes away 95% of the things causing fatigue away from you. Now you can see your kids, go to the gym, see daylight, feed the rats, pet the fish, and work more. You now have more freedom to do whatever the f*ck you want.

https://bysophialee.com/meet-the-team/

With more help, you now have time to grow your platform at a faster rate. Instead of posting 3 videos and 3 posts a month, you can do 10 or more. I will use a team and freelancers extremely soon, so I may grow, and promote the platform. Finish the other platforms, create content, and direct

We need a video in which all MKBHD team members introduce themselves, don't we?
by u/Monk_99 in mkbhd

Your task list after freelancing will look a little like this, granted this is all subjective. You may have a team of people that’ll do all these things and you're just the face of the platform.

Conclusion

Writer's block… As a writer, we all go through it. The best option to combat writer's block is to just fight it head-on with the methods mentioned above or simply by taking a break. The planet has been around for a long time. Books, annals, recorded records, books, blogs, videos, YouTube, Google, Bing… The list goes on and on. Ideas are out there, after generations of human record keeping; there are always ideas to borrow from.

An idea is rarely unique, with over 5 thousand years of human records. More blogs than I can count, more books than I can count, more YouTube videos than I can count, and more Google searches than I can count. Information is out there, ideas are out there.

If you have an idea for an article that has already been done, do it anyway. This very title has been done more times than I can count. But hey I did it anyway. Readers aren’t subject to just one place to read and consume content there are many options. My Humor is unique, my writing style is unique. The title and point have been done before. But this is the first time you’ve heard it from kodoninja.

Theirs a lot of work to create a blog post so you’ll almost always experience writer fatigue. Implement the strategies I mentioned. Take a break, hire a freelancer, and build a team. The well runs dry, as I said you are one of hundreds of others who do the same thing. Look at their content to get ideas. Batch your work, and create a stockpile of work ready to be posted when the well runs dry. Give multitasking a go; try doing many things at once to help jolt your brain. While your multi-tasking, consume like-minded work to give you ideas to add to your notes, folder, or logs in your favorite note-taking app like Notion.

I’ve talked enough if you liked this article give it an upvote if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and please stay engaged. A team is on the way more content is coming.