Shownotes: Today’s podcast will look at writer’s block and what can be done to significantly reduce this challenge for bloggers, writers and podcasters by as much as 99%.  Interested? Listen to the podcast to learn how you too can have an ocean of content for your blog.

Writer’s Block Be Gone!

Alvern: Hello ladies. Alvern here. Today we’re going to look at how to never experience writer’s block again. I know that sounds like a really big claim. As you know by now I do podcasts as well as blogging. I’ve been doing that for probably 10 years now. I have a bit of experience when it comes to blogging, and maybe I’m gifted. I doubt it very much, but there are always ideas rolling around in my head. For those of us whenever you experience a block. A writer’s block, it can be very difficult as to what you need to write next. Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes to write good details in words, because it’s just rolling, and rolling, but for those days where you just need a little bit of help to really give a rich, valuable content, you may want to adapt or adopt.

1. Mindset

These are a few methodologies. I have here eight of them, and I’m hoping I’ll cover them within the 20 minutes that we have allocated. I promise not to rush. I’ll have to do it again or divide it into two sections, which I know you probably don’t like, but we’ll see how it goes. Okay so let’s get talking.

First, on the list, I have mindset. My thinking behind this is as you can imagine for someone like me who I have to produce a podcast every single week. If I want it to be successful I need to adopt a certain mindset. Even if I decide I want to blog even. That mindset is I have to get it done. I can not give up. I have to get it done. I started this journey, and I wouldn’t stop until I die sort of a thing.

It depends on where you are right now in your journey. We, women, have all sorts of things happening in our lives. Could be your children, or partners, or careers, whatever that may be, family situations, stress, all of that. It depends on where you are right now, and what goals you have written down.

I guess what I’m trying to say is make sure you have set a goal. You start with the end in mind and say okay. Especially when it comes to mindset. This is what I want to achieve in two years, three years, five years, 10 years time. This is what I want to achieve. I set the goal.

So say for example I said I want to have a podcast series with 200 shows in it. Yeah. Podcast with 200 posts, or 200 podcasts. Interchangeable these phrases, but you get what I mean. You set that goal. Altogether 200 podcasts, or say 500 podcasts. If I do the calculation with it being once a week, it will take me roughly 10 years to 500 podcasts.

Now, that could be a very long time, but I need to pace myself in the very beginning and say I’m going to do it once a week. In order to increase that amount of time. Say five years I need to be doing podcasts twice a week, and I have to ask myself do I have time twice a week to do a podcast? Yeah.

Within that goal setting you’ve developed this long-term strategy of where you want to be, and in six months time, 12 months time, 24 months time, etc. Make sure it’s something that is sustainable. You can be talking about something that’s a fad. Trying to think of a really good example. I don’t want to say something that would actually not be a fad. Let’s see. What was a fad a few years ago that is no longer in existence now? Maybe you could have written something like … Oh, it just came to my mind, and it just totally went. That wraps every … Of course all the photos.

Something that’s temporary. Something that you know that probably wouldn’t be in existence for pretty long time to come. Like the hat for example. Vines. Those videos. If you want to write about Vines for a long time to come, especially when it’s something that just came, and now it’s no longer in existence then it’s not something sustainable. You think long term. People have to eat. Weddings are always going to be happening. People have to put clothes on their bodies to get dressed, etc. But you get the idea what I mean.

2. Passion

Next stop, is passion. There’s no point starting a blog, or a podcast, or any kind of long-term plan, or goal if it is something that you’re not passionate about.

Ask yourself this particular question. What exactly are you passionate about? Is it I don’t know, clothes? Shoes? Foods? Just the basics, because you can embellish the basics. You can niche down whatever the basics are. Example, food. You get several different niches. You can do recipes, you can do salads, you can do soups, and then each of those still even broken down into different sub-niches.

For example, soups you have chowders, cream soups, all the base soups, chunky soups. The list can go on, but you get what I mean. What are you passionate about, and a really broad level, and then you can niche down in that area. What it is …

Okay, you might think oh, I’m passionate about this, but do you enjoy doing it in the long term? If not, then maybe it’s not something you want to pursue. It has to be an addition of … A combination should I say of passion, and talent in order for it to work for you long term.

Ask yourself the question what do you enjoy doing, and then what it is that you do on a regular basis that doesn’t feel like work? For example, for me I like podcasts. This doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I’m talking to a really good friend, and giving them advice about something that I am passionate about.

If you feel that you can talk to a friend about that thing that you’re passionate about every single weekday, and day out for the next five, 10 years then maybe it’s something that you are passionate about, and of course, you want to do research and keep ahead of the times.

Example, podcast, and the technology behind it, and stuff, or for example I talk about writing. People will always continue to write until obviously probably be taken over by robots. Robots are writing on our behalf, and that would be very strange, but anyway I’m going off topic.

3. Talents

I need to stay focused. All right so that is mindset, passion, and then skill. What are your talents? What are you talented at doing? So you might have been qualified to get a degree, or you are trained in a certain area. For example, nursing, or doctor, or teacher, or mechanic.

What it is that you are passionate about. What it is you can do with your eyes closed day in, and day out, and what can you take away from that, and add it to your passion? What can you teach others? What are you good at? Ask yourself these questions.

Of course, the reason why I am asking that is all of these would actually … Once you have that bit down, it will reduce your writer’s block by almost 99 percent, and I’ll tell you later why 99 percent. All right. Next up. Once you’ve sat down, and thought about those questions I would like you to get out a piece of paper, or even a book. It might take you a book to write all of this.

4. Brainstorm

Brainstorm. Brainstorm about those areas that you’re passionate about. Those things that you’re talented in. Those things that you can teach others. Stuff that you can enjoy doing without having to get bored. Stuff that doesn’t feel like work. Really brainstorm. Brainstorm even if it’s the stuff that you’re brainstorming is not really to teach at all. It doesn’t seem to really teach others.

Brainstorm on pages, and pages of paper. Just keep going until you run out of ideas. Once you’ve done that I’d like you to … The words that you’ve written down in the brainstorm, take each one that is a high level … So for example, you write the word food. On the next piece of paper take that one word, and then break down into even smaller niches for more of a better word.

Put the word food, and then you write down things like stuff that you’re passionate about or interested, or talented in. Say for example you’re a chef, and you’ve got the food like all chefs. All cooks have favourite things they like to cook. So you have the food, and you decide okay, things that I like to do are desserts, starters, main courses, or whatever it is, and then I want you to break that down even further.

Keep doing that until you’ve exhausted that one word, and all that focus word. Then go back to the original piece of paper where you’ve initially brainstorm, and take another major word. Say for example you wrote down cars. You had an interest in cars. Take that, and put it on another sheet of paper, and then brainstorm. What do you know about cars?

Maybe it’s luxury cars, or racing cars, whatever it is, and then break it even further until you’ve exhausted everything related to that word cars. As you can imagine this can take you probably a whole day, or a whole week to get done. Keep doing that until there is nothing left on the original piece of paper where you’ve done your initial brainstorm. All right. Once you’ve done that. Accomplish that little task.

I want you to group the ideas together. The first example of the word food, you might have written down more … You might see a pattern. Let’s just go to pattern. You’d see a pattern of things that you’d write on. Maybe more things, more recipes, or ideas around soups for example. You might have food, and you might have soups, and desserts, and all that, and you recognise that piece of paper brings only about food that you can actually group ideas together.

Say, for example, 30 percent of what you wrote down were recipes related to desserts, or main courses, or whatever it is. Group those ideas together on that piece of paper. All right. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t write about anything outside of your passion, and talent, but this helps you to get st