Knock the writers block - Emphasis

Knock the writers block Knock the writers block Most people have felt the curse of the dreaded writers block: that plummeting feeling of panic that takes hold as you stare hopelessly at a blank page, or at that accursed flashing cursor. If youre afflicted with this condition, youre in good company. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Ellison and F. Scott Fitzgerald are all said to have been fellow sufferers. So dont despair just read on to help release the report (or proposal, letter, webpage) within. The block explained The main reason for writers block is anxiety. And our worries may stem from several causes for example, we: dont understand the brief want our document to be just too perfect have too much information have too little information have too little time. A second reason for not being able to get going is boredom we may feel totally uninspired by the piece we have to write. Finally, and quite understandably, we might just have too much going on in our lives outside work and cant concentrate on the task in hand. The block strikes Wherever it comes from, that horrible state of blankness can be utterly debilitating. The times were most likely to have difficulty are right at the beginning and around the conclusion of our piece of work. Breaking the block Luckily, there are many ways to solve this problem. And here are some that will save your document and your sanity. Plan properly You can reduce your anxiety enormously by planning properly. To do this well, make sure you ask your line manager or reader enough questions about the brief before you begin. You may start off feeling quite confident, but this can quickly evaporate if youre not entirely sure where youre headed and why. Try drawing a spidergram: put the topic or title at the centre and make each leg an important aspect you need to cover. Ask yourself what you need to say about each of these aspects: asking yourself the who-what-why-how-where questions will help to make sure youve got it all down. Leave off the hair shirt Dont beat yourself up, itll only add to the feeling of frustration. Instead, put it in perspective and consider the readers point of view. This will take your focus away from your own fears, as well as producing a document that will be best for your intended audience. If youre just feeling a bit fed up with it all, try to remember what made you enthusiastic about your subject in the first place or why it is a worthy topic. After all, if youre bored with what you write, why should anyone else want to read it? Manage your time If your problem is procrastination, then set a time to start and stick to it. If the whole task seems huge and overwhelming, tell yourself you will just do fifteen minutes then have a break. Chopping assignments into chunks makes the whole process feel more manageable. Find out more on a writing skills course You can boost your business-writing confidence still further by attending one of our High-impact business writing courses. You can learn a surprising amount from our expert trainers in as little as one day, and become much more able and enthusiastic about your writing.