LifeClever has a writing tip that I’d not hear before. They write that they write most of their posts as an Email first – particularly those that they get stuck on.
I’ve never sat down to write a post in email before (although I’ve written emails answering questions to readers that do evolve into posts) – but I do get the idea of writing in a different writing environment.
Sometimes when I get a little stuck I start writing in different mediums including:
- notebook – pen and paper, sometimes you can’t beat them
- whiteboard – usually just main points – brainstorming
- out loud – sometimes I find ‘speaking a post’ can be quite helpful in getting my head around what I’m trying to say
- Twitter – a few times lately I’ve ‘thought out loud’ on Twitter and the ‘thoughts’ then progressed to a full post
- Text Document – when I’m writing an official post I do it in Ecto (a desktop blog editing tool) but around 50% of my posts start less formally as Text Documents in TextEdit.
- Instant Messaging – I quite regularly IM one or another of my contacts to run a post idea or opening paragraph by someone else
Sometimes changing things up in one of these ways will help you to find words to describe what you’re trying to say, give you a new perspective or help you stumble upon a killer idea.
