Copywriting: To Beat the Block, riGht badlee

Writer’s block. If you write for a living, this condition can come out of nowhere and knock you off your game. On the other hand, if you write only when you absolutely have to, you may be more or less permanently afflicted.

There are many methods for beating the block - from taking an exercise break to chugging caffeine to changing locations, just to name a few. As a guy who has faced - and defeated - writer’s block many times in his writing career, my go-to strategy can be summed up in two words: Write badly.

One of the things that tends to put a choke hold on professional writers and non-writers alike is that our impatient brains try to fast-forward to a polished, finished piece. Rather than starting with a rough draft that is actually “rough”, we attempt to shortcut the process and produce our final draft first. As a result, nothing we write looks good enough and we lock up on phrasing and transitions and all the elements of good writing that the completed passage should have.

The answer? Rein in your opinionated brain! Give yourself permission to spend a good 30 minutes writing really, really poorly. Ignore every rule you’ve ever learned about punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc. Jot down everything from individual words to half-baked ideas to stream-of-consciousness paragraphs that may or may not be on point. Thoughts, mental images, emotions, preferences… capture it all. Write with reckless abandon. The more uninhibited you can be and the faster you can type, the better. Scribbling on a piece of paper can be even more freeing. The goal is to cover that irritating white space with… stuff.

What is some of the “shorthand” that can help?

Word reminders, positive and negative

Yes: vibrant, sincere. No: genuine = overused!

Phrases that appeal

Use - she was powerful yet personable

Research reminders

Who’s the guy she started that company with? Look him up. Article?

Bracket placeholders

After the meeting, her [word kinda like “revelation” but better] had changed many opinions.

Rants

Hate the stupid ending in my head. WEAK! Finish with a quote

Once your brain dump is complete, you’ll find that the act of writing has become less like writing and more like assembling a puzzle. It may still be a challenge, but at least the pieces are there and you get closer to a finished product with each one you place.