As a copywriter, you want your thoughts to flow freely, uninhibited. Writer’s block can feel like a giant-sized dam obstructing your canals.
Frustrating, right?
Especially when you feel as though that blank page is staring back at you, smirking.
Today, we’ll discuss the three essential ingredients for destroying writer’s block.
The result?
Your words will gush from your mind, flooding your page.
Let’s dive in.
Locate Your Objective
Before you start writing, first confirm your objective.
What message are you trying to send to your reader?
For instance, if you’re writing an article about corporate sustainability initiatives, maybe your goal is to convey that these are better companies to do business with. Or perhaps you want to convince your reader that they should use sustainability as a Unique Selling Proposition. Either way, knowing the message you want to convey is one of the first steps to avoiding writer’s block.
What’s your call-to-action?
Let’s say you’re writing an article for an SaaS company about their accounting software for small businesses. Maybe your objective is to get the reader to subscribe to a company newsletter about small business operational best practices. Knowing that, you’ll have a better grasp of how you might approach your article.
You may want the article to paint you as an authority on running small businesses. That way, you can build credibility with the reader. Credibility leads to trust. And trust may lead to your reader fulfilling your objective: subscribing to your newsletter.
In short, knowing your objective is like knowing your destination before hopping in your car. You’ll know where you’re heading, which helps you dodge writer’s block.
Dig Into Research
Once you have your objective, you’ll have an idea of what type of research you must do.
If you’re trying to convince your reader that ginger improves digestion, you should find studies that support your case. You may also read numerous articles from health authorities. The more research you do, the more material you’ll have to work with.
When you have plenty of material in your possession, you’re less likely to encounter writer’s block. Usually, writer’s block develops when your mind is hungry for information you can use in your copy. That’s why psychologist Paul Silva once said, “If you can’t figure out what to say, it may be your brain telling you to do more research.”
So when you’ve already fed your brain pages and pages of research, your mind is satiated — too satisfied even to consider writer’s block.
Think of it like this. Research is like gas for your fully operational car. If you have a full tank and only need to travel 12 miles, the last thing on your mind will be running out of gas.
Construct Your Outline
Your preliminary research is what helps you construct the first draft of your outline. Your first draft is when you gather all your talking points, then put them in logical order. What you may find is that some of your talking points are worth keeping, while some aren’t.
Think of your outline as your article’s skeleton. Once it’s constructed, you’ll discover areas that require research. Your research will help add flesh to the skeleton.
Here’s Rutgers University’s take:
“Outlining will help construct and organize ideas in a sequential manner and thoughtful flow. Doing so allows you to pick relevant information or quotes from sources early on, giving writers steady foundation and groundwork when beginning the writing process.”
Treat your polished outline as you would a roadmap. When you have a detailed roadmap guiding you, it’s less likely you’ll get loss… or run into a roadblock like writer’s block.
An Outpouring of Thoughts
When you combine each of the ingredients we discussed, you’ll discover you have the power to destroy writer’s block.
The moral of this article?
The more you invest in preparation, the easier your thoughts will flow once you touch your keyboard or pen.
You’ll feel as if you’re a surfer, riding a wave of inspiration… until you land on shore… your first draft completed.
