Staring at a Blank Page? Here’s Your Writing Cure

The problem? Staring at a blank page…

And staring…

And staring…

And staring…

Do you ever freeze when you sit down to write?

You fidget with your paper clips, check email, decide to “do research” for the umpteenth time, even though you know you should just be writing?

In a recent consultation with a client in my Bring Your Book to Life Program, she found herself doing all those things and confessed, “I’m afraid of the blank page.”

If only every problem in life were so easy to fix.

Get yourself an outline. Start with chapters. Add subheadings. Maybe you’ve already done that.

Next, all you need to do is cut and paste the chapter outline onto your blank page.

Ta da! No more staring at a blank page. There’s writing. There’s structure. You’re on your way.

Writing by hand? No problem. Just write your outline on the page. Go from there.

I know it seems simple, but try it. You’ll be amazed at how this little, seemingly insignificant step can get you writing in the zone.

In Fraser Mccullogh’s post on writing website content, he also offers some excellent advice to help authors who are stuck. And his opening story provides an excellent example of using a story to draw readers in, whether you are writing a book chapter, a blog post or something else.