~bint

Stephanie, thanks for that feedback. Breaking things down into small tasks always helps me out.

Jennifer L., as a former reporter myself, I completely agree. The tight deadlines definitely help you get over writer’s block. Particularly if you have an editor and an entire copy desk boring a hole in your head as you hurry to meet your deadline … yes, speaking from experience.

Jared, that fear of making a mistake or sounding stupid stops a lot of writers from getting into the flow. Glad to hear you’ve found a way around this.

I can always strike up a conversation with someone so why should it be any different when I try to put it on paper.

But in fact, I think that would be my best advice to anyone who’s frozen in front of the keyboard anyway. Just start writing! Okay, first, it might be a good idea to go through your notes, make a start or highlight the most important parts. But then just sit down and just start writing. Why? Get yourself going. You can always come back afterward and 1) rewrite, 2) delete, or 3)rearrange or hey, maybe even 4) like what you’ve got. I regularly just write and then go back and move paragraphs around later and insert quotes or take out awkward phrases.

I’m especially in agreement with your first suggestion, and think that breaking tasks into small, manageable bits can work for just about anything on your to-do list. It can make anything a lot less scary. Great post!