Well Said Wednesday: The One Question That Busts Through Writer's Block

You’ve hit a wall.

A content wall.

Your brain is blank, yet you have marketing copy to write for your new coaching program.

Every word you type is followed by a flurry of angrily tapped backspaces.

“This material will never get written,” you think.

“Gahhhhhh….I hate writing,” you say. Out loud. Loud enough so that other people at the coffee shop look up from their own blank pages and stare at you.

Take a deep breath. Take a big swig of your coffee.

Forget all about snappy opening paragraphs and spicy vocabulary.

There is only one thing to consider right now. This:

What are you trying to say?

Just answer the question. You don’t have to use full sentences, you don’t even have to write. Use the record feature on your phone or shoot a video of yourself saying whatever comes to mind. Free associate on the question:

What are you trying to say?

Good messaging is only possible when you are clear on what you are trying to say. That has to happen first, before you start writing.

Going in any other order is like putting random ingredients from your fridge into a pot and hoping you will somehow end up with delicious chicken noodle soup. Your likelihood of success is…limited.

Random ingredients don’t guarantee good soup and random thoughts don’t guarantee good content.

Without a clear idea of what you’re trying to say, you waste a lot of time on false starts and frustration. Your words are garbled because your message is garbled.

That’s when you start to think you are a bad writer.

You are not.

You are using a bad process.

What are you trying to say?

Once you have clarity around what you are trying to say … say that. You might have to polish it a little, rearrange the order of the thoughts, clean up the typos.

But the essence of your message will be there.

Your voice will be there.

That’s all your message needs.

You see, writer’s block boils down to just two things: a lack of clarity or a lack of confidence. That’s it. And both clarity and confidence are things you can absolutely work on and improve.

So do me a favor, okay? No more starting with a blank page. Instead start with asking:

What are you trying to say?

Get clear first, write second.

It’s how you make sure you always write on purpose. Who has time to do it any other way?

If you’d like more help figuring out what you’re trying to say, let’s set up a discovery call and come up with a plan to help you be well said.