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3-2-1 Fridays: 3 tactics to avoid writer's block

09 Sep

Welcome to today’s issue of Efikó, a weekly newsletter by me, Dozie Anyaegbunam, focusing on all things content marketing and living your best life. THANK YOU for being here! I appreciate you!

Hey folks,

How’s your week been?

For some reason, my internet has decided to misbehave this morning.

But nothing’s going to spoil my Friday!

Nothing!

Thank you for your messages and feedback on Jacob Statler’s deep dive. What topic would you like me to cover next month?

3 Things I Learned This Week

i.

The easiest way to avoid writer’s block is by keeping a journal or a digital notebook. I keep both.

A journal where I scribble for 10 to 30 minutes every morning - opinions, observations, thoughts, and affirmations. I discovered that it's become a place to practice my writing muscles and wit.

A digital notebook (or second brain) where I collate:

  • Lessons from other writers or industry experts

  • Notes from courses

  • Saved posts and screenshots with nuggets of insights

  • Writing frameworks that I find helpful or would like to replicate

  • Or saved sections and highlights from books and articles ( I use Readwise and Instapaper for this).

ii.

Practice rote writing.

Copy a couple of paragraphs from an article or book you enjoyed reading into a notebook. Some folks say you can do this exercise on a computer.

I prefer to handwrite in a notebook when practicing this exercise.

How does this help?

You begin to notice their word choices.

How the writer transitions to a new paragraph or chapter.

Or why they used short sentences in certain sections.

I love doing this with introductions I find captivating.

iii.

Do random writing exercises. This I have never tried. But some writers swear by it.

Think of a writing exercise as anything that gets you pouring words on paper. Some examples:

  • Write a fictional short story

  • Write an alternate ending to your favorite novel

  • Make a counter-argument to a thought leadership piece you just read

  • Write a letter to your future or younger self

  • Try a five-minute freewrite

Tons of websites offer writing prompts and exercises. Just pop “writing exercises’ into Google, and voila!

2 Things I am Thinking About

i.

Social media has us thinking that we MUST comment or have an opinion on everything.

ii.

"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own." — Marcus Aurelius.

I am still beating the positioning drum. So, read Finding the Right Message: How to turn voice of customer research into irresistible copy by Jennifer Havice.

Content Writing Jobs - September

All the best, folks.

P.S: I’m just the messenger. I know nothing more than what I include here.

Thanks for reading this far. I am grateful!

Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful

I’ll be back on 9/16.

Dozie

PS: If my newsletter lands in your promotion tab, please could you move it to the primary tab? Thanks.