Ever have a few ideas in your head but nothing that is sparking a fire? I feel that way now. A few solid ideas for new content, but nothing that has me itching to reach for the laptop. Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit are sucking me into their black hole of time management. And before you know it, I will have wasted the entire day with nothing to show for it. So, what’s a copywriter to do?? Turn the frustration into content of course. Here are 4 tips on how you can create content when you have a case of the “I don’t wannas.”
- Make it short. You have those ideas. Write them down in a post or a tweet even! No one said that good marketing had to be pages and pages long. Your clients or customer base will not think, “Oh well, there aren’t enough words here for me to read. Where’s the content?! This copywriter doesn’t know what they’re doing.” Nope. Not going to happen. Actually, they might appreciate a quick blip of a tip or thought.
- Just start writing. In my former career as a high school English teacher, I would say that about 100 times a day. Teenagers never want to write school assignments. I would tell them to just put pen to paper and write. Even if the words are nonsense, or plagiarized, sometimes it is just the act of putting your fingers on the keyboard or your pen to the paper that gets the ideas flowing.
- Allow the idea to change. Be flexible. It is rare that you will start writing something and end up with exactly what you thought you would. I find this true especially during times of writer’s block. This post actually started out as a guide comparing your business plan to the lessons you learned in Kindergarten. I think that post has merit, and might actually make it to paper one day, but today is not that day.
- Time Limits. Set a timer and work uninterrupted and fully focused for the duration. Once the timer rings, get up, stretch, call a friend, eat a snack. Do something away from the writing that will allow your mind to reset. I literally did not have an idea for number 4, then I got up, and checked Facebook for ten minutes, and now boom, a whole other tip for breaking free of the mental cobwebs.
There are your four tips to create content when you have writer’sblock or a case of the “I don’t wanna’s.” There are four because I couldn’t come up with 5 or 10. So maybe that’s another tip, stop when you have nothing left of value to say. Your clients will appreciate your consistency with content, and will never know that you were banging your head against the desk 15 minutes before.