What To Do When You’re Not In The “Write” Mind

It’s not easy to admit, but I confess that I’ve been in a bit of a mental and motivational slump where my blog is concerned. Oh, I’ve been writing plenty. Just not here.

In the past month, my work for clients included…

• 16 blog posts
• Copy for an email campaign
• Content for a print newsletter
• Project managing and editing a magazine for a local medical society
• Brainstorming and writing abstracts for 10 posts of a “disruptive” nature
• Content for two websites
• Two press releases
• Two industry editorials
• A corporate retirement announcement
• Two case studies
• And a few other odds and ends to boot.

I haven’t been sitting around twiddling my thumbs or spending hours meandering around town playing Pokémon Go. Still, I’ve beat myself up about not following through with tending to my responsibilities here.

This post isn’t intended to show you how busy I’ve been, but rather to demonstrate that sometimes something’s gotta give. Occasionally, you might find you’re not in the “write” mind or you have put forth so much effort elsewhere that you have nothing left to give to your blog. Feeling guilty or less of a professional because of it won’t change the situation.

The moral of the story: Not having the drive and determination to write for your blog doesn’t make you a slacker.

Fortunately, my business hasn’t seemed to suffer as a result of my silence in this space, but if you count on your company blog to draw in traffic and produce leads the same might not be true for you.

So, what can you do if you’re overwhelmed with your other business obligations and undermotivated to write for your blog?

A few ideas:

• Schedule dedicated time for the task. Just knowing you’ve planned for it and aren’t cutting into the time you should be doing something else might help you put your mind to it.

• Pick a topic you’re pumped up about. When you’re enthused about the subject matter, it’s far more enjoyable to write about it.

• Break up the work. Instead of sitting down for hours to write a post, do it in three shorter sessions: One for research and jotting down rough ideas; a second for organizing those ideas and writing a draft; and a third for editing and fine tuning.

• Hire someone to write for you. If you know you absolutely won’t get to it or if you just plain aren’t “feeling it,” don’t force it. Your time will be better spent on other work that’s critical to your business success and you’ll have the posts you need to keep your marketing efforts on track.

The next time you find yourself in the midst of a blog writing slump, find some comfort knowing you’re not alone. It happens to all of us—and you have ways around it.

Your turn: What frustrates you most about writing slumps? How do you overcome them?