10 Ways to Break Through Freelance Writers’ Block

April 21, 2010

Got freelance writer’s block? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been affected by it. It most often comes when you’re under the gun with a project deadline, doesn’t it? Sometimes it happens when you get burnt out on a topic. Read on for some tips I’ve used and that writing friends have taught me. Hopefully this post will be a good conversation starter and give us all some more ideas!

  1. Wash the dishes. I can’t tell you how many times washing the dishes has resulted in my outlining a couple of articles in my head. I drift off when my hands are in sudsy water. The trick is getting those ideas down before they disappear (without getting soap on the keyboard!)

  2. Take a bubble bath. All over suds takes the tension of writer’s block away and usually by the time I’m back at the keyboard, I’ve got ideas or what I’m writing starts to sound better.

  3. Read. Reading helps. Sometimes I’ll read about the topic I’m writing about and sometimes I just look to escape for a few minutes and clear my head. Sometimes I just surf through a thesaurus. Reading about words and definitions often inspires me with ideas and helps me with vocabulary as well.

  4. Stumble. I love my StumbleUpon toolbar. I subscribe to channels I’m interested in so often stumble upon neat writing tools. Some of them have been inspiring or useful enough to help me get back into the groove of a project. Be careful though, a single stumble could soon lead to 20!

  5. Caffeine! Writer’s life blood! Stimulate your brain. (But watch you don’t end up awake all night!)

  6. Eat. Sometimes you can’t think clearly because your body needs fuel or is dehydrated.

  7. Surf. Start researching and you’ll probably find your angle. Don’t check the usual places if they’re not helping. Check out the posts I wrote about going beyond Wikipedia 1 and 2. I surf through search engines for the topic I’m stuck on and start taking notes. Sometimes I’ll look at Google. Sometimes I’ll search Bing or Dogpile. Sometimes I search through Twitter for conversations about a topic or article directories to see how other writers might’ve tackled a keyword phrase or a topic. Checking out Google News or Google Blog Search can be helpful too.

  8. Outline. At the start of a project, I try to do some outlining to save me from writer’s block later on. Giving structure to a project before my brain goes into overload on it can often help me get through it without a problem. I used to get stuck at times if I had to write 20 articles about a specific topic but started outlining that so I knew what I’d be writing about before I started, rather than running out of fuel after 14 articles.

  9. Ask for help. A friend of mine once had to write 35 articles about mattresses. She emailed to moan for a minute. I gave her 5 new titles she hadn’t thought of off the top of my head. I once tweeted in the middle of the night asking for help getting another 200 words for a long article I had to finish and got ideas almost instantly. If you have a good relationship with your client, don’t be afraid to check with them for any topic starters or reference sites to help you when you get stuck as well.

  10. Sleep on it. If you can, take a break. That’s often the best way to get past writer’s block. There are times you’ll have to push through but if you’re normally creative and resourceful and just can’t seem to get unstuck for some reason, your brain probably needs a rest!

What are your best tips for fighting writer’s block?