Deadline Getting Closer, And I've Got Writer's Block. Advice Needed!

Contributor: Errant Venture Errant Venture
I do a bit of writing for several websites, but for the most part it's really a case of me doing a bit of writing whenever I feel like it, or whenever something's stuck in my head, and then I send it in to the editor, with no pressure. For one website, though, I come in with an article every three or four months.

My next piece for this website is due in at the end of this month - and I have writer's block. I can write sentences. Bits and pieces. But it's a trickle. I need a flood. I need to get this done. But my brain just refuses. I can't concentrate on it at all. I can see what I want to write, semi-formed, in my mind, but getting from there to my fingers and on to the page is proving far more difficult than previous run-ins with this insidious disease. Nothing seems to work to get my brain back in gear.

Does anyone have any advice? Please?
01/17/2012
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Contributor: Gyrator Gyrator
Well, I have written quite a lot of technical articles for magazines in the past and sometimes it has been difficult to get the thing sorted. I found that it helped if I simply put down a list of points I wanted to make and then write an almost stream of conciousness paragraph about each point or group of points. I would then try to give some form and order to what I had written.

I found that the block really came from the desire to have the form of the piece worked out neatly in advance of writing or in getting too bogged down in the detail of a given section. Often I found that the rough stuff I put down was not as bad as it first seemed and that the required editing became fairly obvious once I had the rough thing in front of me. The other advantage of this was that other ideas to augment what I had originally planned came to mind while I was doing this - often things that I would never have done if I had sat looking at a blank screen for ages.

Good luck!
01/17/2012
Contributor: Ryuson Ryuson
I agree, make a page with all of your ideas on it, then form those into an outline. It may not be your best piece yet, but at least you'll have it done and out of the way!
01/17/2012
Contributor: js250 js250
One thing I have done when it has gotten extreme, make sure no one is around, have a conversation with yourself (recorded) about your article. Write it verbally and then listen to the tape to get it in words. This unblocked me and let the ideas flow between the sentences.

Yeah, I get weird ideas, but some of them DO work!!
01/17/2012
Contributor: TheSlyFox TheSlyFox
Quote:
Originally posted by Ryuson
I agree, make a page with all of your ideas on it, then form those into an outline. It may not be your best piece yet, but at least you'll have it done and out of the way!
that is what i do when i am trying to write something and have writers block, Sometimes after i get the rough draft down, it will help make it better and flow.
01/17/2012
Contributor: Errant Venture Errant Venture
Interesting. I suppose doing a bullet-point format of what I want to say could be quite useful. I could chop things up and mix them around, play with it, so that I can see what I want to write. Thanks, everyone!
01/18/2012