Highway to Hale

This post is a result of my asking you to name my next blog post. I only had a few suggestions and I appreciate each one, but this title comes as a suggestion from Jonathan Miller (@JonFun). Thank you all.

We’ve all had those moments where ideas and words just dry up in an instant. Contributing factors combine to act as a sponge for creativity and our fingers cease up. None of our ideas seem to be that important and none of the words we use to express our ideas are quite right. So we stop. That’s ok – if you don’t have anything to write/say, take some time to gather your thoughts.

First, don’t worry about it. It happens to everybody. That’s often where the strange posts on your favorite blogs come from. Sometimes the strange idea becomes a regular feature, sometimes it goes into the “filler” bin.

Don’t be afraid to let your ideas build up in a mental reservoir without writing anything. Chances are the build up won’t take long before the dam breaks and your ideas are begging to get out into the world. When that dam breaks, grab a laptop, some headphones and some coffee (if that’s what you’re in to). Sit down and blast out as many posts as your carpal tunnel will allow. Once you’ve got a cache of solid content – refine and relate to timely examples when you are ready to publish.

Don’t look for ideas while you write, let the ideas find you. If you’ve done your searching and thinking before you write, you’ll have a harder time stopping than getting started.

If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.