Writer’s Block: What Can I Do About It?

Every blogger have experience Writer’s block one time or the other and if you have experienced it, you’ll know how frustrating things can be when you are out of ideas. It is common for a blogger to create a new blog and start posting articles immediately. For the first few weeks or months, there is this burning zeal to post fresh articles and after that, the idea seems to be disappearing and what to write next becomes a problem. You try to think, but nothing is coming forth, you are frustrated because you need to update your blog with new post, but you can’t. Of course you know what it means not to update your blog regularly. You really want to make things happen but nothing seems to be happening.

If you are experiencing writer’s block at the moment, or have experience it some time ago, you are not alone. I have experienced it, and every other blogger including the top bloggers you may know have experienced it too. It is common for a writer to experience writer’s block, but running out of ideas is not the problem. The problem is our approach to the issue “Writer’s block”. In life, every one faces challenges and how we handle the challenges that comes our way will determine how successful we will be as a person. Blogging or writing is similar to life’s challenging situation. All writers face different challenges which include writer’s block. Virtually all bloggers have faced this problem and most have being able to overcome it by using a technique they learned or develop themselves.

This article will show you some practical techniques that will help you to overcome writer’s block, and keep the ideas coming. If you are experiencing writer’s block at the moment, just assume your problems are solved, relax, and enjoy reading this article. By the end of this post, you will able to handle issues concerning writer’s block.

Getting Out Of Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a devastating situation; it prevents you from updating your blog, and a blog is as good as dead if it’s not being updated. That is what blogs are for; blogs are online diaries that need to be updated regularly. Search engines expect you to update, your reader/subscribers also expect you to update regularly, but one guy won’t let you do that. Who’s that guy? Writer’s block. This guy won’t allow you to update your blog on a regular basis. Can anything be done about this guy who tries to sabotage your effort to update your readers with fresh content? Yes of course. Without further waste of time, let’s quickly dive into some things that can be done to get writing ideas when you are experiencing writer’s block.

Using Yahoo Answer

Yahoo answers is a good place to get ideas when you don’t know what to write about. It is being used by a lot of people to get answer to their questions. Utilizing yahoo answers will give you fresh ideas of what your next post should be. When you visit yahoo answers, search for categories related to your niche, there you will find lots of questions you can answer, why not select a question and make a well detailed post about that question; remember these questions are giving you a clues to what people are searching for. Come on, people need information. Go to yahoo answers now, there are a lot of questions for you to answer. You can’t run out of ideas, not when yahoo answers exist.

Lesson: The rule of thumb here is to check yahoo answers when you have run out of ideas and answer questions as post in your blog.

Check Your Comment Section

You might be searching for the right one a thousand miles away from home, but believe me, she could be next door. Your blog comment section should be given proper consideration by you. If you do have comments on your blog, then there might be some questions there. Check all comments thoroughly and make a post about questions asked by your readers. If you have noticed your comment section very well, you will find out that some of your readers mentioned some points you failed to mention. You can expand on those points and a new post is ready. Don’t forget to give credit to the one who mentioned the point, it will encourage more comment on your blog, and if possible link to him/her.

Lesson: Check around your blog before you check other blogs, and try to answer your reader’s questions in detail, preferably as a post.

Check Other Blogs In Your Niche

The internet is filled with information and ideas. So running out of ideas can be handled by taking a proper look at your online environment. Observe the conversation in the comment section of other blogs; read through their blog post carefully, the idea is in there. All you have to do is to check properly. You may decide to write a review about other blogs, the blog owner is going to love it. One thing I observe in recent times is people writing blog post about John Chow. You may or may not write about John Chow, but writing about the qualities you admire about other bloggers will certainly help you to swim your way out of writer’s block.

Lesson: Check other blog and find something interesting about them. Before writing you must observe carefully.

Using Forums

Forums are great place to get ideas when experiencing writer’s block. A lot of people ask questions in forums. If you are a registered member of any forum, it will do you some good to check out for questions in thread related to your niche and review your activities in the forum. Check all the post you’ve made, and read through replies on the thread you started. You might get idea of what next to write from there. Sometimes you might post something a bit controversial to encourage discussion. Observe carefully what people are saying and you will get something to write about. You can even write about the discussion.

Lesson: Always try to be conversational in forums and always look out for questions. I think after yahoo answers, forum is the next place where a lot of people ask questions. So check very well, you will find a lot of questions to answer.

Check Your Email

Newsletters being sent to you is another ways to get new ideas. Most of the changes that takes place online get to us through email newsletter. I remembered Google panda and penguin; I received the news through a newsletter sent to me. So make sure you read all the newsletters sent to you and save the important ones. You might need them someday when you are facing writer’s block.

Lesson: Never ignore newsletters; most of them contain updates about changes taking place online. For you to keep up with online marketing trend, you need to read newsletters. It will also help you to pass useful information to your readers.

We’ve just discussed some steps to get out of writer’s block; I think it’s time we discuss how to keep the ideas coming to avoid having a relapse. Don’t go away; we are quickly going to brush through some techniques to keep the idea coming.

How To Keep The Ideas Coming And Avoid Writer’s Block

To keep the ideas coming and avoid writer’s block, there are some things you need to do regularly. If you do them, the chances of you facing writer’s block will be reduced.

Always Have A Pen And Paper By Your Side

There are times when the ideas will flood in and there are times also when very few or none will come in. To take advantage of a situation like this, you should always have a pen and paper by your side. If you don’t have a pen and paper, then you should have a device that allows you to type written text and save it. This is very important, because it will help you to utilize every idea that comes your way. There are times when it seems to me that I have a thousand and one things to write, but some few days later I do wonder where those ideas have gone. The reason why I have too many things to write about now and nothing to write later is because I failed to pen the ideas down when they are coming. When I needed to put my ideas into use, I get very few or none. This is because I can’t remember them anymore. From this moment on, make sure a pen and paper is always handy, and if you don’t have a pen and paper, then you should have a device that enables you to write text and save it. Your mobile phone might be the right tool, or you can purchase a Tab for this purpose. It’s good to write down your ideas when they are flooding in because we forget so easily due to our busy life style. Those written ideas can save you from a lot of trouble.

Read Every day And Learn New Things

To keep your ideas burning, you need fresh information every day. I believe you have lots of eBooks and you are subscribed to top blogs; what do you do with the eBooks you have and the newsletter sent to you daily? Do you find time to read them, or are you too busy doing other things? If you don’t read, your chances of experiencing writer’s block will increase. Here is a tip to learn something new every day; set aside time to read materials. It could be 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours daily. If you are setting 1 hour or above aside to read daily, you can split the time. Let’s assume I set 1 hour to read daily, I might decide to read 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes before going to bed. Whatever your choice, you know when it will be most convenient for you to read. The idea here is to learn something new every day. Never let a day pass by without learning something new, this is what bloggers do. They learn and share every day. Great changes are taking place online; this is why there will always be an increase in demand for new information; learn something new and share.

Be Part O f A Blogging Community

There is this popular saying “A tree cannot make a forest”. I’m sure you will agree with me that a tree can never make a forest. For a forest to be a forest there must be many trees, and the interaction between these trees is what makes up a forest. As a blogger, you can’t isolate yourself and hope to be a successful blogger; you must interact with other bloggers which could be your friends or just acquaintance. Compare your blogging career to your life’s situation, how do you think things will be if you don’t have any family relative or close friend? Of course life won’t be as interesting as it is now. You need to connect with other bloggers and interact with them; visit their blog and leave comments. Answer questions, but don’t just answer the question like that. You can make a blog post about the question and show it to the one who asked the question. Joining community like MyBlogLog can also give you ideas of what to write about. Join the discussion and make a blog post about the discussion in your own opinion. This is what people want from bloggers, they need your opinion and you have to give it to them. My point is this is: be part of communities where you can meet with bloggers of related niche, join the discussion and observe what they are saying. Your next blog post will come from there.

N.B: It is very important to always have a pen and paper by your side so that you can write down immediately whatever writing idea you run into. The ideas come so fast and leave quickly; so you have to take snapshots of your ideas while they are around before they leave. That is a way to keep ideas in your memory bank.

These are the tips I have for you on preventing and get out of writer’s block. Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Do you have any addition to make, or disagree with a point I mentioned above? Your comment is highly appreciated.

A good reference on how to How to increase your productivity as a writer. Written By Bamidele Onibalusi.

About The Author Apollos Iteire: I am a passionate blogger who loves to share tips and experiences. I love to connect with bloggers and you can connect with me on facebook, twitter, linkedin, pinterest and google plus one. Website: http://www.uniqueblogging.com