Comments on: Bloggers Block – Just Say Something

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 01:19:58 +0000

Hello,

Is is exactly what happen today: I blocked. So I wrote about something that I know that I will have to do in next weeks/months (project management), just to help me to make it clear in my head.

I will know if it will deblock my inspiration in next days ;)

Salutations,

Fred

By: Cary

Cary — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:56:22 +0000

Hey Mike,

Anne Lamott is right on the money there…really good writing is almost always created during editing. Although because of time restraints I think most bloggers are skipping editing almost entirely ; D That includes me!

By: Phoenixrealm » Blog Archive » Bloggers Block - Another Form of Writers Block

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:50:20 +0000

[...] Block
Rant, Life David July 7th, 2005

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Thanks to ProBlogger.net for pointing out this article on having nothing t [...]

By: Danger Stevens

Danger Stevens — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:44:54 +0000

Whoah, I’d totally forgotten about this. Good advice, I think I’ll start using it.

By: Mike McLaughlin

Mike McLaughlin — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:13:32 +0000

Great post and comments.

In her book, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott talks about the process of writing and refers to the “Shitty First Draft”–excuse the language. Lamott suggests that all good writers do them, and they’re usually pure drivel.

But buried in that SFD is something really good that can be shaped into a great idea. When I just write, I get my best ideas. And through editing–which is where the best writers shine–you can polish up your idea.

By: JSLogan

JSLogan — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 21:50:13 +0000

When I hit a writing block I start reading – blogs, newsletters, magazines, books, newspapers – anything related to my domain. It works for me…

By: eckes

eckes — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 21:33:35 +0000

That “go on writing anything” is a good Tip from creative writing authors. For example Natalie Goldberg is singing that song all the time. And yes that not only works for Book Authors.

By: Cary

Cary — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 21:16:49 +0000

You said it : ) As a newish blogger, but long-time writer, I truly believe that getting over writer’s block is just a matter of writing a couple of sentences even when you think you’ve got nothing to say…it almost always works for me, anyways…

By: John (SYNTAGMA)

John (SYNTAGMA) — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:34:19 +0000

You have to oil the engine to make it purr.

By: Chrispian

Chrispian — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:31:17 +0000

My entire blog is built around this, hence the name “Nothing to Say” ;)

By: Chris Abraham

Chris Abraham — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:29:29 +0000

That is the best advice for both bloggers and writers. Just write. In fact, readers like seeing my less-polished process-based work — it reinforces that this is an approachable medium.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 19:39:20 +0000

I’ve mentioned this before on other posts, but Joel Saltzman’s “If You Can Talk, You Can Write” really is a great primer on this.

Progress, Not Perfection is the mantra of the book. If you keep writing, you eventually will come up with SOMETHING. Even if only 5-10% of it is good, that’s still 5-10% more that you can build upon and so on.

I think the hardest part of writing is getting over the perfectionist mentality. Life is messy, so is our work, people only see the final product, so it’s okay to sketch around ideas, no matter how wild they are. Applies to photography, music, writing and technology. Those the fields I work in and realize that you can learn a lot just by messing around.