Writer’s Constipation
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What Pro Writer’s Do When The Words Won’t Flow
Writer’s constipation is different from writer’s block.
Writer’s block finds you staring at the blank page or screen, lost for what to write.
Writer’s block is more of a mindless state.
Writer’s Constipation occurs when you have too much to write.
Writer’s Constipation is when you’ve been grazing or gorging on information for an extended time, researching or learning, but not producing anything from it.
You’re full of it. You’ve been consuming words, written or oral, and you’ve digested that knowledge and turned it into your own new ideas. But you haven’t gotten any out.
Now, you have such a backlog of research to share, new ideas, perhaps a whole book full of ideas – but the words are packed so tightly in your skull you struggle to get the flow started.
You’re constipated in the head!
Where to start?
I’m experiencing this writer’s constipation phenomenon now.
For three years I’ve been researching and studying the various and many benefits which can be derived from a certain part of our anatomy. A mentor of mine suggests now might be a good time to publish those findings.
But where to start!
Three years worth of words and ideas are swirling around in my head. Flashes of genius call out at random intervals – triggered no doubt by some bling in my immediate surroundings.
Rather like the term “writer’s constipation“ came to me while in the shower today. I don’t know why!
But what to do with all these random stuck thoughts?
Is this where I should start? No wait…
Maybe I should start here?
And as we all know – a confused mind does nothing.
Help! I Can’t Get It Out.
Luckily, I’ve lived long enough to know that we don’t have to panic when this happens.
Much like the other constipation we all know and despise, there are cures. Remedies. Some potent like Magnesium Citrate. Some more gentle, more like MiraLAX.
Here they are:
My Three Cures for Writer’s Constipation
1. Pick It Out.
Literally. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil, not a keyboard or screen – you’ll see why in a bit – and start writing down little snippets. One word about your topic or research. Then another. Then another.
Maybe it’s:
- Potential headings
- Potential chapters
- Industry jargon
- Report Titles
Expand next to phrases. Important thoughts or ideas. Multiple word groups or short sentences. Don’t edit. Write them down as they come. Quickly now! Don’t stop to think. Write. Write some more.
Once you find yourself slowing down or thinking too much, stop. Or perhaps you’ve filled the page. Stop!
Get up now. Go grab a glass of water, coffee, or some other favorite drink. You need a short break to let your mind catch up.
Go back to the paper now. Add arrows to connect related points. Circle or highlight matching ideas with a colored pens. Number things if that’s appropriate. Begin to organize thoughts and words.
Rewrite these on another paper if that helps you organize.
Now that you’ve got things flowing, keep going.
Work on expanding the ideas you have. Or start on another page if you feel you have more to get out first. The important thing is to keep the flow going once it starts.
Stay regular. Write every day.
2. Map It Out
I love mind maps.
Not the computer kind, I get too lost and angered in the learning or formatting curve to find any benefit.
I love the speed and simplicity of pen and paper. Especially that engineering paper with it’s little blue squares. Legal pads are my second choice, followed by blank printer paper.
Strange as it may seem, a sketch artist once told me his “trick” to getting started with that scary blank page. Simply draw a border around the page!
Yes. A simple rectangle. A border. A frame.
Then, it’s not a blank page anymore. You’ve added “something”!
Typically, I’ll write my working title or topic in the center of the paper, then circle it.
Half an inch away I’ll write whatever word seems closely related to that.
For example, if I wrote BODY in the center and circled it, I might write ARM a half inch away and circle that. Then draw a line to the BODY circle.
Next I might write HAND a half inch out from ARM and circle that. Then I might write FINGERS a half inch out from hands and circle that, or maybe I’d square that. Connect them all with lines.
I won’t give a whole tutorial here on creating mind maps. There are dozens of websites and videos already doing that. And most of us remember enough how to create one from our school days anyway.
Mind maps help you get your information out bit by bit, word by word, while organizing at the same time.
I’ll usually run out of room on the page and have to start over. Or get a bigger piece of paper.
Mind maps provide a structure which helps things start flowing.
Nature abhors an empty space and will suck the words right out of you – if you let it.
3. Take A Writer’s Dump
This last one, I first heard from the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert.
It’s a technique he used and recommended for fighting the constipation’s dreaded cousin, Writer’s Block.
You just start writing.
Nonsense. Any words. Any sentence. Nothing has to make sense. You can write your favorite nursery rhyme. Song lyrics. Anything goes. “Four score and seven years ago…”.
How to bake bread. How to draw a cute kitten. How to safely clean your ears with a Q-tip even though the box says don’t.
Just start writing. Dump it all out. It’s the warm up. Nothing really matters…to me!
It works on the same principle as syphoning water.
You suck and suck until you get it to flow, then it just flows – all by itself.
Conclusion…
Try one or all of these three remedies next time you get a bad case of Writer’s Constipation.
You’ll feel better fast. You’ll thank me.
The Magic Potent Bonus Cure!
If you haven’t got your flow going yet, or are looking for a faster start, I’d recommend you grab a copy of my most potent writer’s remedy, The Copywriter’s Persuasion Toolkit.
Even if you’re NOT writing sales copy!
Its psychological themes and colorful graphics offer unique and timeless insights into inner the workings of the human mind.
It’s like Draino for idea flow.
Using its fill-in-the-blank templates and forms, you can’t help but find the ways and means of presenting your information in a form that readers will eat up. It will literally pull the thoughts from your head in an organized, compelling form.
Use at your own risk*
Available by prescription only…and I’m prescribing it for you here!
Be forewarned though… Ideas will flow out so fast it will make your pen spin. Best to have that paper ready to catch them.
*Safe and effective when used as directed.
There you go. Or at least, I hope you do.
Otherwise, you’ve read this far just to increase the log-jam of information that got you here in the first place.
Take action!
That’s the only way out of this mess.
“Here’s to your struggle-free, strain-free writing success!”
– Robert Schwarztrauber
