Facebook, Twitter, blogs, press releases, media alerts, pitches, eBlasts, newsletters; the list goes on and on…
Every day as PR professionals, we are tasked with writing solid, compelling content to be used across our client base on any number of media platforms. It’s the PR life and while I love it, writer’s block comes and blindsides me from time to time leaving me staring at a glaringly empty screen.
The PR world is fast-paced by nature, so there’s little to no time for writer’s block on any given day of the week. Everything has a deadline, so wasting time isn’t really an option!
Here, I offer up a few of my own go-to tips on how to fight writer’s block and push through the brain fog:
1. Plan ahead
Far and away the best way I’ve found to avoid writer’s block all together: plan ahead!
If you know you need to write something, schedule yourself the time to brainstorm ahead of time. Whether simply writing down ideas or bouncing around concepts with a coworker, if you give yourself time to work through both good and bad ideas, you’ll end up with much stronger content and can avoid sweating while writing it five minutes before your deadline.
2. Troll for sources, facts and supporting articles to color your piece
<<Dear World, Are you using Google Reader for your Google Alerts? If not you are MISSING OUT! XO Lauren>>
But really — I used to spend time hunting through my massive email inbox for Google Alerts that slipped my radar and went unread. Despite making good use of Google mail’s fantastical automatic labeling capabilities, the alerts were clogging up my email more than they were helping keep me organized.
Now I have all of my favorite alerts sent to Google Reader and OH MY LANTA! The ease of being able to find and track relevant and interesting articles – it rocks! Looking for something “newsy” to inspire a blog post? Go riffle through your Google Reader, you’re guaranteed to find something worth sharing or blogging about!
3. Run away
Not literally. Well sometimes. But not usually.
What I mean is, unless you work in an airtight, locked room, you probably have people near by. That means more brains that could spawn creative ideas or angles that may have gone un-tapped had you not been the social (and professional) butterfly that you are!
Reach out to someone who hasn’t worked on the same clients, give a shout out to the project you’re working on and ask for some feedback, and I’ll bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how much value you get out of the resulting conversation — just don’t let the time get away from you while you’re chatting away 
Take your fresh ideas and run with them! Let the creative juices flow and VOILA!
This is one of my favorite aspects of working at an agency, lots of creative, smart minds near by to tap for cool ideas!
So I shared my writer’s block secrets, what are yours? Eating some chocolate? Going on a run? Taking your laptop outside for a change of scenery? Sharing is caring, people so let us have it!
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