How “Old School” Habits Can Beat Writer’s Block

Posted by Sarah Mitchell on 24 November 2010 | 2 Comments

Tags: blog, blogging, content marketing, copywriting

Do you ever struggle to find a topic for a blog post? I battled to find inspiration today. It’s Thanksgiving in the USA, the country from which I originally hail, so maybe I’m having some sort of long buried resistance to working on a holiday. As I watched the clock tick away valuable writing hours, I knew exactly how to solve my problem. I’ll let you in on a sure-fire way to find inspiration.

Fluoro-orange, it’s so 1980s
On the bottom shelf of my desk sits a fat, fluorescent orange folder with “MKTG RPTS” scribbled across it. Inside is a jackpot of ideas. In the course of my normal internet surfing, I come across all sorts of surveys, reports, research findings, white papers and case studies related to my area of interest - marketing and content marketing. I rarely have time to digest the data contained in these reports when I come across them. I make a habit of printing a hardcopy of the best ones and jam them in my folder.

You’re probably wondering why I don’t use a bookmarking system. I do, but I’ve discovered a hard copy is an extremely valuable resource. I keep notes scribbled on the paper documents, key phrases underlined and highlighted, and post-it tabs on pages I know will be useful in the future. My current file has reports from:

• MarketingProfs
  
• Junta42
  
• Content Marketing Institute
  
• American Business Media
  
• Marketing Sherpa
  
• Social Media Examiner
  
• Hubspot
  
• Super Hero Marketing
  
• Unica
  
• Tips Products International

While some of these organisations were not familiar to me when I found their data, it’s all proved valuable to my writing over the past six months. Flipping through the reports I can see exactly what ground I’ve covered in the past and, importantly, find nuggets of information I have yet to extrapolate into my blog. With research findings or hard data to kick-start the writing process, I can usually find the topic for a good post.

The Take-Away
I’m a big fan of technology but have discovered benefits to using an old-fashioned technique to motivate my writing. Digging through a worn folder loaded with dog-eared surveys is a great way to come up with new ideas. It also keeps me aware of annual reports and mindful of the time I need to start looking for updated research. Today, on this American national holiday of gratitude, I’m really glad for my old-school habit of printing and reading hard copy.

What do you do when you’re stuck for an idea?

Subscribe here to have new posts from the Global Copywriting Blog delivered by email.

Related Posts:

• 9 Tips That Improved My Blog
• Blog Logistics: A Key Insight for your Content Marketing Strategy
• 7 Tips for Starting a Blog