I read many posts on 200WAD from people who do not know what to write about. These posts are from writers who are new as well as from members of #Teamstreak. It happens to all of us from time to time. One reason this may happen is you are sitting down to write when you are not ready to write.

There are some people who wait until the final few minutes to write either because that’s how they planned the day or unforeseen circumstances, or perhaps they like the pressure of writing and the risk and danger of breaking their streak.

Martin Weir: “What’s the matter, the pressure got too much for ya?”

Chili Palmer: “Pressure..? I’m the one who applied the pressure.”

--From Get Shorty

If you sit down with 30 or 20 or 10 minutes before midnight, now you HAVE to write. For some people, this pressure unleashes creativity. For others, it creates a block. 

There are others who schedule a specific time to write every day. This scheduled time could also create pressure if it’s the only time you allow yourself to write. You sit down at the computer and say, “Ok it’s time to write now.” Some people successfully write every day with this approach. I used to do this but found that it doesn’t work for me. 

I have learned to write when I’m ready to write. Sometimes I have an idea first thing in the morning. Other times an idea strikes in the middle of the day. Even if I am unable to write a post at that moment, I write the idea down so I don’t lose it. This makes it easy to write when I have free time.

One piece of advice for proper “sleep hygiene” is to only do two things in bed: sleep and sex. If you watch TV or read while in bed, this may cause you to associate other activities besides sleep with the bed. If you get into bed and cannot fall asleep, the recommendation is to get out of bed. In other words, when you are sleepy you should go to bed. You shouldn’t go to bed and wait to get sleepy. The same applies to eating. You don’t sit at a dinner table and wait to get hungry. 

I apply this same approach to writing. I don’t sit down at the computer and force myself to write something. I have ideas and things to say first, then I sit down at the computer to write them. I write when I’m ready to write, and this prevents me from sitting and staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike.

4-27-20

This advice was true for me a year ago, and I’m still going strong with it today. 

I know there are some content creators who like to “batch” content. They block out time and crank out multiple pieces of content and release them on a schedule. I follow this approach with my podcast because it seems to work for that endeavor. I get in the mood to crank out some episodes, and then I have them in the can and ready to go so I can post one every day. I don’t have a pressing need to record a podcast every day because it’s purely a hobby of joy. I’m doing it because I actually enjoy it and I crack myself up. 

In contrast to the podcast, I do not take the batch approach to write. I have a commitment to write every day. It’s like exercise for me. On a rare occasion when I know I won’t have sufficient time to write, I might write a post ahead of time and schedule it. That is definitely an exception rather than the rule.

As with so many things, you have to figure out which style works for you. There is no “best” method, and techniques used by so-called experts and masters may not work for you. Be open to experimentation and if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.