Blogging: How to kick writer’s block in the ass!
Writing has always been a huge part of my life, which means that writer’s block has also been a huge part of my life.
Trying to come up with great original content for this blog has been a challenge to say the least, and it makes me think of all you bloggers out there. You guys produce great content day in and day out. I can only imagine that writer’s block is a big part of your life too.
A few years ago I read this book, and while there is a lot of information in there, there are really only two things that stuck with me, and that I continue to do to this day.
Scribbling:
The idea behind scribbling is to clear your head of all the cob webs you accumulate during the night.
What you’ll need:
- A bunch of empty pages
- A pen/pencil
- A foggy brain
If you’re like me, the first thing I do in the morning is reach for my phone and start checking Instagram/Facebook/Twitter/Favorite Social Network. Stop that!
Instead grab your bunch of empty pages and your pen. And start writing. That’s it. Just write. It doesn’t need to make sense. It can even be in a made up language. Simply put the pen to the paper and write. And don’t stop until you have five full pages.
Consider that everyone has 10 crappy pages a day in them. The goal is to get at least some of those out of the way first thing, so you can get on with creating that gold that your readers love.
Hang out with your inner child:
We all have one. And for most of us, he/she is being badly neglected. Your inner child loves things like sand castles and hates things like paying bills. Unfortunately, as we get older, we build less sand castles and pay more bills.
As a consequence, your inner child sits in the corner playing with Lego blocks….alone.
You know how your best ideas come when you least expect them? That’s your inner child trying to come out and play.
My inner child loves to take photos and listen to music. So, once a week, we go out and do that. Just us. Good old fashioned quality time. We grab our cameras, throw on our iPods and we walk around the city. We take photos of whatever we want. Here are a couple from this week’s session.
Whatever your inner child wants to do, you should do it. You’ll be amazed at how incredibly creative that time will be.
The same way you make time to hang out with your girlfriend, or your husband, or your friends, that amazing little kid inside you needs to have some fun!
So that’s how I overcome writer’s block.
How do you kick writer’s block in the ass? Leave your tips in the comments. I’d love to hear them.
What lawyer do you use? Who’s your accountant?
I’ve been getting these questions a lot lately. Enough that I thought I should write this post. And the reason is, is that most of the people asking me don’t need these services. Yet.
When I started my last company, I couldn’t wait to start having conversations with lawyers and accountants. It made me feel important. Like I had something real. Like I was a real CEO. And they loved me too. They always answered my calls, they even took me out to lunch. And then I got the bill.
Most new entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to lately, are doing the same thing. Rushing to set up complex legal structures and financial models before they have any idea whether their idea is going to sink or swim.
Businesses need lawyers and accountants, but unless you have money flowing through the company (either in the form of paying customers or investment)…..you don’t really have a business. You have a theory.
A much better use of your time would be to go out and prove your theory to be correct, rather than lunching with your lawyers. If you’re right, and cash is coming at you faster than you know what to do with it, that’s when you bring in the suits. Champagne problems.
Execute like a monkey humping a coconut, on your product and getting customers, and the rest will fall into place when it needs to. Howard Lindzon put’s it nicely.
Having setup companies in a couple places now, I will say that Silicon Valley has this nailed. More so than most places, the firms that operate here understand volatility of the startup ecosystem and have morphed to fit the environment. Many firms will defer payments, or take small equity stakes to cover their initial fees. Ping me (paul [at] skyscrpr [dot] com) if you’d like to chat about this a little more. I have a killer team with me on Skyscrpr that have already been worth their weight in gold. But we only brought them on when we really needed them.
As always, the phone lines are open, so hit us up if you want to chat.
Also, this is an awesome article on how to check the boxes when the time comes to officially start your company.
