I hate writing.
It’s the worst thing I have to do.
I don’t know why…but asking me to write an article about something I know a lot about…yuck!
I’m happy to dictate it. Happy to talk through it. Happy to make corrections to someone elses writing.
But asking me to write something from scratch…
And, something I know little about? Forget it.
This is why I hire Filipino writers.
But even they have their struggles sometimes. This was Julia trying to figure out what to write about for todays newsletter.
One misconception I think most people have when outsourcing creative work (writers, graphic designers, etc) is that we’re always inspired. Give us a task, the light bulb above our head turns on instantly, and we get to work.
Most days, it does feel like that. The more you practice your trade, the better you get at it. The easier it becomes.
But there are days when it doesn’t really happen. Writer’s block is a real thing. It’s something that everyone who does creative work suffers from. There are days where I stare at my outline doing nothing. I know what I have to do. It’s just that my brain is refusing to cooperate and I’ve forgotten to do something I’ve done a hundred times before.
That was the case with this email. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to write but the idea refuses to take shape. I knew staring at it wasn’t going to change things so I did something else. I had other tasks from John to give me something else to focus on. I did a few chores to give my brain a break. And when I got back to my computer, that’s where I got the idea to write about how I was having a hard time finding something to write.
My advice, if you’re going to hire an OFS who does creative work, give them a small extra task that’s slightly unrelated to what they’re doing. Something that doesn’t require creativity, like checking for spam email/comments. Just to give our brains a break every once in a while.
How do you overcome a creative block? Any advice for me?
John