Writers Block Party.

Another Glorious Monday.

This is now my 11th time sitting down in the morning to write this blog, and this is the first time I’ve struggled to find something to write about.

So far the topics, words, wisdom have typically just flowed naturally onto the page. But not this morning.

I figured this would happen eventually — even the most prolific writers of all-time complain of writer’s block — I suppose it’s an inevitability after a certain point. Something that affects anyone who produces content on a regular basis.

And to be honest it prevents a lot of talented people from starting creative endeavors. The typical trajectory of a failed content series is as follows:

1. Come up with awesome idea to start a newsletter/TikTok/etc.

2. Post a few times

3. Eventually run out of ideas for what to post next

4. Scrap the thing all-together, vow never to try something creative again

It’s hard. And once you commit to starting, content becomes bottomless pit, you just gotta keep going back to the well, sometimes it will come up dry, but you’ve gotta keep going.

Really the difficult part isn’t really the act of writing itself. It’s the prompting, the ideation, the work up-front that makes things difficult.

So how do the great content producers stay on top of the idea wheel? My guess is that it’s a combination of the following:

• Keep a notepad — whether it be physical pen+paper, notes app, Notion, voice memos, etc; good ideas are elusive, they come randomly throughout the day, you can’t will an epiphany into existence. So having a simple place to keep them and bank them up is the best way

• Chat about ideas — if you were to try and will some good ideas into existence, the best way to do it would probably be to jam with a friend about them. Talking about content ideas out loud with someone else accomplishes two things: 1) it adds an additional perspective, which helps you see things you wouldn’t see before, and 2) literally saying an idea to someone else forces you to refine them.

• Get SOMETHING out — another big part is simply lowering the bar of expectations. Sometimes it can feel like there’s no use writing/producing unless it’s about the best idea in the world. But I think just forcing yourself to sit down and write about something (kind of like I am doing right now) is as good a way as any to get there. Because it gets the juices flowing.

In many ways the art of good content is kind of like building a fire. It starts small as the spark of an idea, but with the right ingredients and care it can become something amazing, huge, beautiful. Heavily dependent on having the right tools and preparation done ahead of time.

And I suppose creating a business is the same way. Maybe that’s true for any type of creative endeavor. Start small and then momentum kicks in.

Anyways, that’s it for today.

Peace,

Ramsey