Creatively Drained

Whether you help out with your company’s blogging initiatives or are a full-time copy monkey, at some point, your brain and your fingers are both going to be burned out. You’ll swear you’ll never be able to write another word–ever.

Nonsense. Of course you will. You’ve just got to remember often the only way out is through the middle. When you feel creatively drained, when you’re desperately searching for something, anything to write about, that’s when it’s time to write more than ever.

But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to go back to the salt mines and pound your head against the keyboard until something comes out. No, what you need to do is write about something entirely different.

Sometimes, Lorraine writes about flowers and photography. Peter writes about music. Tamre writes about food and beer. Even Jenna, who will tell you all day long that she’s not a writer, has some pretty witty bon mots about the fashion world. Me? I write about theater and the arts.

There are a few reasons writing about something completely different can give you fresh insight into your business. The first is that writing is like a water fountain: You can sit there all day waiting for a drink, but if you never press the button, nothing will come out. You’ve got to start working–that is, writing–before you can have ideas. It’s your job to prime that pump every day and build good writing habits. Even if you’re writing about your favorite television show, you’re still training yourself in how to put your fingers to they keys and school your brain to think in logical ways and patterns.

The second reason to write about the random is to give you a fresh perspective on the familiar. When you sling words about the same old thing every day, it’s hard to see beyond that. By writing about things you’re passionate about, expands your horizons. When you do come back to write that blog post or that client proposal, you’re going to have clear eyes and new ideas. Without those, your business is shot.

Writing can be invigorating or it can be a slog. Most days, it’s both. Shake up your routine, bust out of the familiar and write about something fun. Take just ten minutes a day to rattle down your thoughts on something awesome you saw or did that day. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that your business-related writing will pick up, too.

How do you combat writing fatigue?

photo credit: Ian Sane via photopin cc