Work with, not against, your brain
I don’t believe in writer’s block. Never had time for it. Blank page? I’ll take two, please. I’ve never met the muse. She sounds delightful, but she’s never knocked on my door.
What passes for writer’s block is usually a process problem. The more you understand how your brain works, the more likely you are to come up with a good method for writing.
- Forage, or gather information. This is the “feed your brain” step of the process. Here’s where you interview subject matter experts and turn to ChatGPT for the raw material that will become your story.
- Analyze that information. Focus, sift and organize it to see how the pieces fit together. (Bonus: During this step, you are also uploading this information to your brain.)
- Incubate, or let the information simmer. Let your subconscious mind mull over the message.
- Break through, or get to the “Aha!” Here, you’ll answer questions like “What should I use for my lead?” and “How am I going to organize this thing?”
- Knuckle down, or take Ernest Hemingway’s advice and “apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair.” In other words, start writing.
Follow these steps in this order, and you shouldn’t have trouble figuring out what to write.
Master the writing process
Invest your writing time in the steps of the process where it will do the most good. You’re probably currently spending most of your time where it will do the least good.
Join us at Write Better, Easier & Faster — our writing-process workshop starting Sept. 18.
Learn a six-step writing process (you’re probably skipping the most important step!) that will help you:
- Save writing time
- Come up with great ideas
- Avoid writer’s block, procrastination and same-old stuff
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
