Jan 05 2009
Can You Talk Your Way Out of Writer’s Block?
A successful blogger revealed that when he sits down to create content, he imagines himself standing on stage and addressing a large gathering.
It helps him to set the tone for his content and when he begins seeing the faces in the crowd, his words start flowing.
You can use a similar approach if you have trouble getting started with content creation. If you’ve no experience speaking on stage, try a variation. Visualize yourself speaking in a seminar, giving a lecture or even addressing an informal gathering of enthusiasts in a café.
Picturing yourself in such a situation helps put you in a relaxed mood. You’re not going to write, but address a gathering. It also helps you focus on your audience, rather than your use of language or writing style.
But then when you’re starting off with the addressing-a-gathering method, you may not meet with much success at the beginning.
You may experience a kind of `stage fright’ and end up lost for words. The situation is embarrassing on a real stage. But since you’re on an imaginary stage, you have options.
When you can’t talk to your audience, you can always talk to yourself and you can talk anything you like on the subject you’re supposed to write on.
You can begin like this: “Hey, listen, I’m going to talk you about ___________. Do you want to know what is _________ and how _________?
Don’t start with any expectation. Treat it as an exercise to warm your mind up.
The whole idea of starting thus is to help you make a connection with your material as you go on writing. If you keep on putting down words it will not be long before you find your direction and take off from there.
Some speakers, on experiencing stage fright, use the same technique. They just start somewhere and keep talking about their topic before finding the opening lines for their subject.
Most of the time you may have to write several paragraphs before you make the connection. Don’t treat them as wasted paragraphs. They are there for a purpose. They act as bridge to connect your thoughts to paper or computer screen.
Once you have crossed the bridge, you can move on smoothly towards your destination.
