How to Write When You Don’t Know What to Write About

I’m sure you’ve been there – staring at a blank computer screen and banging your head against the keyboard.  You have a moment of inspiration and write something down quickly, only to sit back, read it, and hit the backspace button in despair.

I’ve been there many times.

Some call it writer’s block, others call it lack of inspiration, I call it lack of creativity.  I have learned in the past that when you don’t have anything to write about, all you need to do is sit down and start writing.  Write about random stuff – it doesn’t have to make sense.  The act of writing something and just letting your mind flow freely will oftentimes release a creative idea.

For example, the following paragraph is just me writing anything that randomly comes to my mind:

I have no idea what I’m doing.  I am just going to write the first thing that comes to my mind.  I really need to start thinking of a topic to write about the day before, because then I won’t have to think of something on the spot.  That way, writing a blog post is way more fun because I already know what I’m going to write about.

There.  I have a new blog topic now – think of a topic the day before to reduce stress.

There have been times where I think, “Oh that’s going to make a great post!  I’ll write about it tomorrow (because I already wrote one today)!”  And then when the time comes to write the next day, it’s much easier!  So, after you’re finished writing for the day, see if you think of something else you want to write about and put it on the doc for the next day.  Being prepared helps immensely with the feeling of writer’s block.

Another technique I use is whenever I think of something that is interesting or blog-worthy, I write down the idea in the notes section of my phone.  I keep a list of things to write about so that whenever I feel like I’m stuck, I refer to the list.

Sometimes you might not feel like writing about anything on the list.  I know it’s hard, but you’re just going to have to start.  Once you start, finishing is super easy.  Just start.  Overcome inertia.  You can do it!

Until next time,

Hope Frances